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Emergency Kids’ Dentist Southampton

We Can Help When Dental Emergencies Strike

One day your child might not have any problems with their smile, but the next they might start suffering from tooth pain or end up with an injured tooth after getting hit in the face. The moment you realize that your child is in need of urgent dental care, you should pick up the phone and give Happy Teeth of Southampton a call. We’ll give you tips for dealing with the situation at home and make arrangements for you to see Dr. Amar, our emergency kids' dentist in Southampton, as soon as possible.

Boy with ice cream cone holding his cheek in pain needing emergency kids dentist in Southampton

Why Choose Happy Teeth of Southampton for Emergency Kids’ Dentistry?

  • Evening and Weekend Hours Available
  • Children with Special Needs Welcomed
  • Caring Board-Certified Pediatric Dentist

How We Treat Dental Emergencies

Young girl grimacing in dental chair

The goal of emergency dental treatment is to put a stop to your child’s pain and make sure that their teeth are properly protected from additional harm. Below is a quick look at the steps we’ll follow to resolve your child’s emergency situation:

  • Same-Day Appointment: We’ll ask about your child’s symptoms so that we can give you appropriate first-aid tips. We’ll then make arrangements to see your child as quickly as possible (generally on the same day when we can).
  • Emergency Examination: The underlying cause of your child’s emergency won’t always be obvious, which is why a thorough examination is so important.
  • Review Findings: After completing our evaluation of your child’s mouth, we’ll let you know what the problem is before suggesting a personalized treatment plan. Rest assured that we will provide an estimate for each recommended service.
  • Caring for Your Child’s Smile: We will carry out the agreed-upon treatments to restore your child’s oral health.

The Most Common Pediatric Dental Emergencies

We recommend getting in touch with our dental office right away if your child is dealing with any oral health issues that you think might qualify as an emergency. Even if you’re not sure, it’s best to have a dentist look at your child’s smile as soon as possible. Below, you’ll find examples of common pediatric dental emergencies to keep an eye out for.

How to Help Your Child Prevent Dental Emergencies

Mother holding cloth to her childs bleeding lip

  • If your child plays sports, get them a mouthguard that has been customized for their unique smile.
  • Teach your child to open packages and containers with the appropriate tools; do not let them use their teeth.
  • Use gates to close off stairs and other potentially dangerous parts of your home to prevent accidents that might result in your child losing a tooth.
  • Schedule a dental checkup and cleaning for your child once every six months.
  • Make sure that your child is practicing the best techniques for brushing and flossing their teeth.

The Cost of Treating Your Child’s Dental Emergencies

Young girl grinning in dental chair

Some dental emergencies are relatively minor and can be corrected with a filling. Others might be advanced enough to require procedures such as pulp therapy. The treatment that your child ultimately needs to resolve their dental emergency will help determine the amount you end up paying for their care. Even if you’re worried about the cost, you shouldn’t put off calling our office for too long; if the problem grows worse, it could become more expensive to treat. Our team will always be transparent about the price attached to your child’s emergency dental care and take whatever steps are needed to make paying for the necessary treatments easier.

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Toothaches  

Is My Child's Toothache a Dental Emergency? Simply put, a toothache should never be ignored. Instead, you should ask your child how long their tooth has been hurting and, if it’s been more than a couple of hours, reach out to us to schedule an appointment with our kid's emergency dentist in Southampton.

How You Should Handle Your Child's Toothache Once there is an appointment on our calendar, transition your focus to alleviating your child’s discomfort in the short-term (i.e., using a cold compress for 10 minutes at a time, rinsing with warm saltwater, avoiding sugary, acidic, and crunchy foods).

How We Treat Toothaches in Children Oftentimes, a decayed tooth can be restored with a tooth-colored filling. However, there are some cases where more extensive restorative care is required, like a dental crown or pulp therapy, which is why the initial exam is so important.

Cracked Tooth  

Is My Child's Cracked Tooth a Dental Emergency? Absolutely! After all, this dental injury can be quite painful, and it’s possible for an infection to develop or the crack to get larger if it isn’t treated right away.

How You Should Handle Your Child's Cracked Tooth There’s really only one thing to do: try to prevent further damage. So, make sure your child doesn’t chew on that side of their mouth and that they rinse periodically with clean, lukewarm water.

How We Treat Children's Cracked Teeth That depends on if their tooth can be saved. If it can, then a dental crown may be the answer. If it can’t, then the only option may be extracting it. In both cases, we can have a custom mouthguard made to help protect their smile from harm moving forward.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ATHLETIC MOUTHGUARDS

LEARN MORE ABOUT TOOTH EXTRACTIONS

Chipped Teeth  

Is My Child's Chipped Tooth a Dental Emergency? Is your child in pain? Is the chip substantial in size? If so, the answer is “yes.” If not, then you don’t need to schedule an emergency appointment, but you should still bring them in within a day or two.

How You Should Handle Your Child's Chipped Tooth First, have your child rinse their mouth with clean, room-temperature water to ensure any shards of their tooth are removed. Then, cover their tooth with sugar-free gum or dental wax to prevent further problems, like a soft tissue injury.

How We Treat Children's Chipped Teeth Direct bonding is one of the most common treatments for chipped teeth. However, if the tooth that was damaged was a molar, then we may recommend a metal-free restoration instead.

Knocked-Out Permanent Tooth  

Is A Knocked-Out Permanent Tooth a Dental Emergency? It is! So, don’t wait – contact our Southampton pediatric dentist right away to let us know that your child has knocked out one of their teeth. In addition to scheduling an appointment, we will walk you through how to handle this dental emergency.

How You Should Handle a Knocked-Out Permanent Tooth Prioritize two things: getting to our office and preserving the root of your child’s tooth. When it comes to the latter, you have two options. The first is placing the tooth in a clean container filled with milk. The second is inserting the tooth back in its socket, but only if that doesn’t require force.

How We Treat Knocked-Out Permanent Teeth First, we will see if saving your child’s natural tooth is possible. If it isn’t, don’t worry – the look, health, and function of their smile won’t be compromised for long. We can use a dental bridge to fill the gap, and we can have a custom mouthguard made to help prevent this dental emergency from happening again in the future.

Knocked-Out Baby Tooth  

Is a Knocked-Out Baby Tooth a Dental Emergency? If your child is in pain, then the answer is “absolutely, yes.” You should also schedule an appointment with us if the tooth was knocked out prematurely or their surrounding teeth were damaged in the process.

How You Should Handle a Knocked-Out Baby Tooth While a knocked-out permanent tooth can be inserted back into the socket, a knocked-out baby tooth cannot. The best thing to do is give us a call to schedule an emergency appointment and do what you can to protect your child’s smile from further harm, like offering them soft foods if they are hungry.

How We Treat Knocked-Out Baby Teeth Usually, a space maintainer is used to prevent dental drift. It’s also possible that no further care is needed, which is often the case when the adult tooth is already breaking through the gumline.

Bitten Tongue, Lip, or Cheek  

Is a Bitten Tongue, Lip, or Cheek an Emergency? Sometimes! For example, if the cut continues to bleed – even after 10 minutes of applying pressure – then you should take your child to the ER or call 911.

How You Should Handle Your Child's Soft Tissue Injury First, have your child rinse their mouth with clean, cool water in the sink. Second, grab a damp, clean washcloth and use it to apply pressure to the cut. Third, use a cold compress or towel-wrapped ice pack to alleviate inflammation (after the bleeding has stopped).

How We Treat Soft Tissue Injuries in Children Usually, soft tissue injuries can be handled at home in a matter of minutes. That said, it is possible for medical attention to be necessary, so don’t hesitate to go to the ER or call 911 if the bleeding is uncontrollable. 

Dental Concussion

Is My Child's Dental Concussion an Emergency? A dental concussion is when a tooth is hit, but not hard enough that it completely falls out. This injury absolutely warrants an emergency appointment, so make contacting us a top priority!

How You Should Handle Your Child's Dental Concussion Handling this dental injury properly really comes down to what NOT to do: don’t wait to schedule an appointment, don’t eat anything crunchy, and don’t wiggle the tooth.

How We Treat Dental Concussions in Children Sometimes, the tooth just needs some support so it can heal back in place. Other times, the tooth was so badly damaged in the incident that it cannot be saved. Ultimately, we can’t provide you with a one-size-fits-all answer here, but we can have a custom mouthguard made to protect your child’s smile from harm moving forward!

*LEARN MORE ABOUT ATHLETIC MOUTHGUARDS*

Sensitive Teeth

Are My Child's Sensitive Teeth an Emergency? Dental sensitivity to hot and cold stimuli, like freshly made hot chocolate, is normal. If, however, your child is experiencing lingering sensitivity, then it could be due to an untreated oral health problem, like a cavity, which is why we recommend contacting us.

How You Should Handle Your Child's Sensitive Teeth Until their appointment at our Southampton dental office, do what you can to alleviate your child’s discomfort, like offering them room-temperature water instead of ice-cold water. You can also give them over-the-counter pain medication for children if their discomfort is more severe.

How We Treat Sensitive Teeth in Children In order to determine which restorative service (or services) is needed, we need to learn about your child’s symptoms, take X-rays, and conduct a visual exam. Once we know what’s causing their dental sensitivity, we can determine the best way to move forward, like restoring a decayed tooth with a dental filling or crown.

Lost Filling or Crown

Is My Child's Lost Filling or Crown an Emergency? Remember, without their dental filling or crown securely in place, your child’s tooth is vulnerable to serious harm. In other words, this is a dental emergency, so contact us ASAP to schedule an appointment.

How You Should Handle Your Child's Lost Filling or Crown Have your child rinse their mouth with clean, room-temperature water to prevent bacteria and other debris from collecting on their tooth. Make sure they avoid crunchy foods, hot and cold stimuli, and bad habits (like biting their nails) too.

How We Treat Lost Fillings or Crowns in Children We can always replace your child’s dental filling or crown with a new one. In some cases, like if their dental crown is relatively new, we can re-cement it back in place. Ultimately, our recommendation on how to move forward will depend on factors like the type of restoration and the condition of their restoration.

Something Stuck Between the Teeth

Is Having Something Stuck Between My Child's Teeth an Emergency? Usually, this isn’t a dental emergency. That said, you’re more than welcome to reach out to us if you’re having trouble removing the debris or your child is in pain. From there, we can schedule an appointment with our pediatric dentist, Dr. Amar Singh.

How You Should Handle Something Stuck Between Your Child's Teeth First, dissolve some salt in warm water and have your child swish the solution around in their mouth for 30 seconds or so. Then, use floss to gently remove the debris (depending on how young your child is, you may need to do this for them). If that doesn’t work, don’t use tweezers, a toothpick, or anything else sharp; call us.