Any dental issue classified as an emergency requires immediate action, or else you risk suffering serious consequences. Some of the most common dental emergencies include non-stop bleeding from the mouth, oral pain, gum infection, swelling and broken teeth. If you see an emergency dentist in good time, you receive the most appropriate treatment and prevent future dental issues. However, emergency dentists prefer to ask pertinent questions to ensure the administration of the right treatment. This article highlights questions to expect from an emergency dentist.
Rate Your Dental Pain?
Although not all emergencies are painful, most are, and the pain can be a source of stress. For instance, an excruciating toothache can deprive you of quality sleep and make it difficult to concentrate on a task. Notably, dental pain varies in intensity, and while some pain can be subtle, it can also be unbearable. Typically, an emergency dentist will use a numeric rating scale (NRS) and ask you to point to a number that corresponds to how you are currently feeling. For instance, pain that falls between 1-3 is considered mild, while 7-10 is appraised as severe. Rating your pain is critical to administering anesthetics and pain medication; therefore, you must be as accurate as possible to prevent complications.
Describe the Pain?
Describing your dental pain is not the same as rating it. Therefore, when an emergency dentist asks you to describe the pain, they have already established its intensity. Some of the most common types of dental pain include dull but persistent ache, sensitivity pain, sharp pain and throbbing pain. A dull ache is the most common and is usually manageable. It can be caused by foreign objects lodged between the teeth or an abscessed tooth. Sensitivity pain is also common and points to a more serious problem such as worn-out enamel, fractures or exposed roots. Finally, throbbing dental pain is typically unbearable and can affect one side of the face. Dental pain description helps emergency dentists narrow down the possible problems and provide faster and appropriate treatment.
Have You Tried Any Pain Management Remedies?
Managing dental pain is usually the first thing emergency dentists do when they receive a patient. However, many patients try different pain management remedies before seeing an emergency dentist. Therefore, it is vital to let your dentist know how you have managed the pain thus far to eliminate other potential problems. For instance, many people experiencing severe throbbing toothache place an aspirin-based pain killer directly on the affected tooth. Since aspirin is a blood thinner, you risk losing a lot of blood during a dental procedure such as tooth extraction. Thus, an emergency dentist will want to know the pain medication you have used and how you applied it for better decision-making during treatment.
