If you need an emergency pediatric dentist, the first thing you should do is contact your child’s dentist from home. With a teledental app like GoodCheckup®, you can reach your child’s dentist from your mobile device and have a face to face online video chat. The app is free and sign up is quick and easy. Pick your dentist from the app and access their online schedule immediately to schedule a call with them and get advice on your child’s dental issue quickly, from the comfort of home.
What is a Dental Emergency?
Dental problems can range from a loose tooth to a serious infection. An incident is an emergency if there is extreme pain, uncontrollable bleeding, symptoms of infection such as pus or fever, or any issue that prevents the child from talking, eating and drinking without extreme discomfort, such as a chipped or broken tooth that is sensitive to touch, heat or cold. If a tooth is knocked out, treat that as an emergency as well. When in doubt, it’s always best to contact your child’s dentist for advice.
Be Prepared for a Dental Emergency
Like medical emergencies, dental emergencies can happen. Especially if you have children, being prepared ahead of time will help make the unfortunate event easier, lower everyone’s stress and get the problem fixed faster. There are a few things you can do now to prepare for a potential dental emergency:
- If you have children, it’s a good idea to enroll yourself in a First Aid class. With the basic skills to deal with falls, burns, cuts and other common issues, you will feel more confident and ready when something does happen. Get a first aid kit and always know where it is so you can access it quickly. Be sure your kit includes gauze and cotton balls to control bleeding as well as dental floss to remove foreign objects from between teeth. If your child has bleeding or pain, rinse the mouth with warm salt water to relieve it.
- Children lose their “baby teeth” starting around six years of age. Advise them not to pull out a loose tooth which may damage the root growing in, but wait til it falls out. If there is any minor bleeding or inflammation, rinse their mouth with warm salty water. Loss of baby teeth is normal and unlikely to create a dental emergency. If your child loses a permanent tooth, however, save the tooth and contact your dentist right away.
- Stay up to date with your children’s dental care. This way, problems will be avoided or caught early so emergencies are less likely to occur. When they do, your dentist will have full records on hand to refer to.
- Be sure both you and your pediatric dentist, orthodontist and family dentist are enrolled in the GoodCheckup® app so that you can easily get in touch in case of a dental emergency. If you don’t see your dentist on the list in the GoodCheckup® app, you can call the dentist and let them know you have signed up and would like them to sign up as well. They can sign up as dentists just as quickly and easily as you and your child have enrolled.
- If you have any questions about any dental situation, get in touch with your child’s dentist on GoodCheckup® to be sure. Early intervention may help avoid worse consequences and keep your child comfortable and out of pain or danger of developing more serious symptoms.
See Your Pediatric Dentist Online Anytime for Emergency Care
Your child’s dental emergency may be mild or severe, but the first step to take is to contact your dentist on the GoodCheckup® app and schedule a video call with them. The dentist may be able to advise home care so your child can recover without having to go into the dental office. This is always a good outcome for everyone as it’s a lot less stressful for both parent and child. Even if your child needs to be seen, a virtual dental appointment will let the dentist help you prepare for the appointment, relieve immediate symptoms and be sure something such as a knocked-out tooth can be properly stored so that it can be successfully replaced into your child’s mouth, if that is an option. You and the dentist can schedule the emergency visit while on the video chat. Once you are ready to head into the dentist office for treatment, consider bringing a family member or friend so you can focus on the child’s wellbeing.
With your child’s dentist only a click away with GoodCheckup® and prepared for small emergencies at home, you can rest easy about your child’s dental health and be ready for just about any dental mishap.