Emergency Dentist San Francisco
San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez provides the following emergency dental services:
- When you visit our Rodriguez Dentistry office for a dental emergency, we will immediately diagnose your problem
- Our San Francisco emergency dentist will thoroughly explain your treatment options
- For some dental emergencies, we will address your pain with prescription antibiotics and pain medication
- Our Rodriguez Dentistry emergency dentist may also immediately apply local anesthesia to sooth the pain
- Dr. Chris Rodriguez can also perform immediate tooth extractions, fillings, repair broken dentures and chipped teeth, recement dental crowns that have fallen off, drain painful abscesses, and stabilize other oral injuries
If your regular dentist is unavailable:
San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez can see you and get you out of pain or discomfort today. Rodriguez Dentistry will then send your regular dentist a detailed report of your emergency dental visit, including your treatment and any dental x-rays taken.
If you don’t have a regular dentist:
The first priority of San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez is to get you out of pain. After your dental emergency has been addressed at Rodriguez Dentistry, we can discuss longer-term care that may prevent future dental emergencies. Our caring and patient San Francisco emergency dental staff will teach you the latest techniques in oral care, and our San Francisco emergency dentist can provide tooth-colored fillings, dental crowns and bridges, and even dental implants, dentures, porcelain veneers, teeth whitening, and other restorative and cosmetic dentistry services.
Knocked Out Tooth San Francisco
If your tooth has just been knocked out, hold it by the crown (the wide top). If the root (the narrow bottom that usually anchors your tooth to the jaw) is dirty, simply rinse if off with water. Do not scrub or wipe the root; do not remove any tissue (or anything else). If possible, gently re-insert the tooth into the vacant socket, (the hole where it used to be) and hold it in place. If that isn’t possible, place your knocked out tooth in a cup of milk. Then immediately call San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez (415) 397-2804. You will be coming to our Rodriguez Dentistry office soon; be sure you bring your knocked out tooth with you!
Broken Tooth San Francisco
If you have just broken a tooth, rinse out your mouth with warm water. This will clean the area and minimize the chances of infection. You should also apply cold compresses on the surrounding area to reduce swelling that may occur. Immediately call San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez (415) 397-2804.
Toothache San Francisco
A toothache can be miserable, and if left untreated, it probably won’t go away. Before visiting an emergency dentist, you can determine if food or other small objects are caught between your teeth and causing the pain. Gently floss around the teeth neighboring the toothache, taking care to gently floss under the gums. Next rinse your mouth with warm water, and heavily swish the liquid around and between the tooth or area with the toothache. Do not place aspirin or any other painkiller directly against your gums near the toothache; this may actually burn your gums. If the pain persists, contact San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez (415) 397-2804.
Objects Caught Between Teeth
You should very gently use dental floss to attempt to remove anything stuck between your teeth. When flossing, avoid rapid motion or sawing back and forth. You want to floss slightly below the gum tissue without forcing down, and avoid cutting your gums. Never use a sharp object to try to remove something stuck between your teeth; that may lead to a bigger dental emergency. If you cannot dislodge the object with dental floss, contact San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez (415) 397-2804.
Bitten Lip or Tongue
A bitten lip or tongue can be a painful annoyance or a serious dental emergency. You should first clean the wound gently with a clean cloth or sterile gauze pad. Next apply cold compresses to reduce any swelling. If the bleeding is severe and does not stop, this may be a dental emergency. Contact emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez at (415) 397-2804 or go to a hospital emergency room immediately.
Do you have a cracked tooth?
You might not want to contact a San Francisco emergency dentist because your acute symptoms are infrequent or occasional. Perhaps you feel a sharp pain when you bite down, but it quickly disappears. Maybe you avoid certain foods, or hot or cold drinks. Then you start chewing on one side of your mouth to avoid pain. These are all signs of a cracked tooth, which San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez encounters and treats often.
What causes a tooth to crack?
Many situations can lead to cracked tooth: chewing on hard objects like metal pens or ice, or on nuts or hard candy; an accident, especially as a blow to the mouth or an abrupt fall when your mouth snaps shut; grinding and clenching your teeth; loss of other teeth or tooth structure, resulting in more work and pressure distributed across fewer teeth; metal fillings, which expand with warm food and liquid much more than natural enamel and act as a wedge over time; stress due to an uneven bite; exposure of tooth enamel to temperature extremes, such as eating hot food, and then immediately drinking ice water; brittleness of teeth that have undergone endodontic (root canal) treatment. If you suspect you have a cracked tooth, a quick consultation with San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez will confirm it and provide treatment options.
How can you tell if a tooth is cracked?
A cracked tooth is not always obvious. Sometimes the toothache is felt near other healthy teeth, or you can’t determine which tooth or even jaw is the source of the pain. A cracked tooth may be a long hairline fracture and be invisible to the eye and the dental x-ray. Some cracked teeth are easily identified, and some are not–even by an experienced emergency dentist like Dr. Chris Rodriguez.
You can help your San Francisco emergency dentist determine which tooth is problematic by recognizing where and when you have pain or sensitivity, and whether it’s triggered by heat or cold, or by sweet, sour, or sticky food. Also note approximately where you feel the pain when you are chewing. Write this information down, and report it to your San Francisco emergency dentist when you visit.
Why does a cracked tooth hurt?
Often biting on a cracked tooth causes the crack to open wider, causing a sharp pain. When you stop chewing, the biting pressure stops, and the crack quickly closes. At this point, your toothache often ends as abruptly as it began. Although our San Francisco emergency dentist classifies a cracked tooth as an emergency, many patients believe the infrequent or irregular toothache means it’s not that serious. It is.
Even though the crack may be microscopic, the pulp inside the tooth can become very irritated each time the crack opens. Your tooth pulp is a soft tissue that contains the tooth’s sensitive nerves and blood vessels. When the constantly opening and closing crack irritates the pulp, the tooth becomes sensitive to temperature extremes, and you are in more pain. If the cracked tooth is not addressed quickly with a dental crown or dental filling, harmful bacteria can enter the pulp and cause infection and disease. When this happens, your dental emergency becomes more acute, and root canal treatment may be necessary to save the tooth. San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez encourages you to visit Rodriguez Dentistry today if you suspect you have a cracked tooth.
How is a cracked tooth treated?
Your treatment depends on the size and location of the crack. Minor cases can be treated with tooth-colored fillings, porcelain inlays or onlays, or dental crowns. Larger cracks may require root canal treatment or even an extraction, if the tooth is too damaged to save. San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez has the experience and training to determine the best treatment for you.
Very small cracks in your enamel are common and usually don’t cause problems. With regular dental checkups at our Rodriguez Dentistry office, we ensure small problems are treated early and before they become larger, more painful, and more costly. If you are currently experiencing a toothache or suspect you might have a cracked tooth, please contact San Francisco emergency dentist Dr. Chris Rodriguez today (415) 397-2804.