13 May A trip to the emergency dentist with your child; what you can expect as a parent

Being a parent is tough. And it can get a whole lot tougher when your child comes back from a sports match or other event and has a chipped or cracked tooth.

And while it can be very tempting to overlook such an occurrence, as soon as you notice the damage to your child’s tooth/teeth or they tell you about it, you need to contact an emergency dental team.

Because emergency dental cases aren’t reserved exclusively for adults. Everything from cavities, to abscesses, to the examples above warrant emergency dental trips. Also, if your child has sudden swelling to the face or jaw, you will need to contact our team for help.

At Dental Beauty Islington, we take great pride in our emergency dentist in Islington and should your child need help with their cracked or sore teeth, we will be there to ensure that they feel better as soon as possible. Because that is what emergency dental care is all about!

What can you as the parent expect when you accompany your child to see our emergency dentist in Islington? Read on to find out!

Assessment

As the first step, our emergency dentist in Islington will assess the damage or injury to your child’s mouth.

If your child is in a great deal of discomfort or is highly anxious, we will spend some time talking to them to reassure them while administering pain relief. We may need to take X-Rays and, if your child has chipped or broken a tooth and you have retained fragments of it, we will look to assess if we can successfully reattach them.

Relief

As before, we will often administer pain relief to ensure that your child is comfortable. We will also spend some time talking to them about what we are going to do, to calm their nerves.

Treatment

The treatment received will depend on the emergency we are faced with.

In cases such as broken or chipped teeth, we will aim to restore the damaged area using composite or fillings. If your child has a toothache caused by a cavity, we will fill it.

In the most extreme cases of a dental emergency, such as abscesses, we will usually prescribe antibiotics to control the infection and suggest a follow-up appointment with their regular dentist in a few days.

Aftercare

The aftercare we recommend will vary depending on the issue.

In the case of chipped teeth, no additional care is needed. If your child had a filling, we will advise that they cut back on sugary produce in their diet. If they have an abscess, they will need to take their antibiotics and follow up with their regular dental team in a few days; when an abscess has occurred, a root canal or extraction may be needed to prevent a recurrence.

Prevention

We will also offer prevention advice.

If the emergency was caused by playing sports, we may recommend that your child has a sports guard made to prevent another injury from occurring.