Oral care is incredibly important, not only for your health but your self-image as well. A bright, white smile shows that you are confident, youthful, and healthy. Unfortunately, life likes to throw us a curve ball every now and again, and accidents can happen. You may fall down and knock out your front teeth. You might try eating some hard candy and crack or chip one of your molars. When it comes to dental emergencies, Dr. Jorgenson and his extensively trained team of experts at Advanced Dental Care are always ready and prepared to help and correct any oral injuries, problems, or illnesses that might afflict you throughout your day-to-day routine.
At Advanced Dental Care, we do not treat our urgent patients as nuisances. We are here to help, and we want to make sure that every patient, regardless of their situation, receives the absolute best care and attention from our staff. Be sure to call us if you ever find yourself experiencing a dental emergency in Costa Mesa! If you’re unable to make it to our office right away, the following tips should help provide temporary relief in the meantime.
Every dental emergency is unique, which is why there is no fixed cost for emergency dentistry in Costa Mesa. Should you ever require immediate attention, our goal will be to get you out of pain as quickly as possible before addressing any damage to the teeth. We’ll be sure to go over all of your options so you’ll know exactly what you’re expected to pay. To help make treatments more affordable, we accept insurance, offer financing, and have our own in-house discount plan.
Dental emergencies can vary greatly in their severity and in the type of treatment they require. It is impossible for us to provide price estimates without first being able to assess a situation. Some emergencies can be treated simply and inexpensively, with something like a filling or prescription mouthwash. Other problems, however, are much more complex and require root canal therapy, a crown, or another advanced procedure. Before we begin any treatment, we will let you know about the cost and your payment options. If more than one treatment might be suitable for you, we will help you compare the pros, cons, and price of each option.
Dental insurance policies are all unique, so you will need to check the details of your plan to know for sure how it applies. In general, though, many policies cover at least one emergency exam each year. They may also pay for 50 – 80% of the cost of care, depending on the specifics of your recommended treatment plan. Our experienced and friendly team will be happy to help you navigate your benefits and file insurance claims.
As your emergency dentist in Costa Mesa, we want you to be able to afford your care. In addition to helping with insurance, we offer other provisions that may help you manage the cost of your urgent dental care:
Some dental emergencies occur as a result of an unavoidable accident. Most, though, are preventable. You can save money by regularly taking steps to protect your smile. For example, attending a dental checkup and cleaning twice a year removes plaque and tartar from your teeth and allows us to spot most problems before they become severe and require complex treatment. Plus, insurance usually covers 100% of the cost of these appointments. If you ever suspect that something is wrong with your dental health, do not ignore the problem. The sooner you seek treatment, the more likely it is that we can address the issue with a relatively simple and conservative treatment, rather than an advanced (and pricier) procedure.
As you’d expect, it’s better to avoid dental emergencies than to face them. Suffering from urgent oral issues costs you time, money, energy, and more. Still, you may not know how to reduce your risk for these mouth-related conditions; they can often seem hard to stop. The good news is that our office can explain how to prevent dental emergencies in Costa Mesa. For the relevant details, just keep reading or call us soon!
While they may seem pointless, frequent dental checkups are crucial to a safe mouth. They’re one of the best ways to prevent dental emergencies in the long run.
Remember that these visits are the ideal form of preventive dental care. In other words, they diagnose and treat minor oral issues before things worsen. A dental checkup will thus help you avoid severe issues – tooth infections, etc. – that qualify as dental emergencies.
To be honest, cleaning your teeth at home doesn’t just help them look nice. This regular practice will greatly reduce your risk of having a dental emergency.
You see, good oral hygiene prevents many severe oral problems. A habit of twice-daily brushing will remove plaque and bacteria that cause tooth infections. Similarly, once-daily flossing makes gum disease less likely in the long run. Sticking to both of these routines thus strengthens your smile enough to avoid potential problems.
Among its other harsh effects, a bad diet can often lead to an urgent oral issue. Going overboard on sugary foods and drinks can lead to painful cavities and even tooth infections. At the same time, acidic beverages like soda tend to erode enamel and make teeth sensitive. Such facts indicate that recklessly eating unhealthy meals can send you to your emergency dentist.
All that said, following a mouth-healthy diet lets you avoid this outcome. Foods like lean proteins, dairy products, and veggies won’t decay your teeth or weaken your mouth. Instead, their nutrients will strengthen your enamel and gums against harmful plaque and bacteria.
You may not have known, but it’s honestly quite easy to injure your teeth. A simple game of football or basketball can knock out a tooth or two. On the other hand, grinding a tooth at night could cause it to chip or crack.
Luckily, you can avoid such dental trauma by wearing a mouthguard from your dentist. A sports-type model can stop mouth injuries from occurring. Furthermore, a mouthguard to wear at night (i.e., a “nightguard”) would keep you from grinding your teeth while asleep.
Whether you’re tempted to or not, please don’t use your teeth to open a package. Biting a container, bag, or packaging can cause a dental emergency. In particular, it may result in a chip, crack, or fracture in your smile.
The main problem is that using teeth as tools wears down your enamel. This habit erodes your top tooth layer, making your smile more vulnerable to external force. You’d be much wiser to only use your pearly whites for eating and smiling.
Our emergency dental services are offered 24/7, which means you can reach us at any time, and we will be more than happy to discuss your situation, possible treatments, and get you started on the procedure you require. Contact us to get your emergency treated, ask questions, address concerns, etc. Our doors are always open to Costa Mesa, along with Fountain Valley, Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Tustin, and all of the neighboring communities.
While technically possible, toothaches don’t often go away on their own. They tend to persist until their underlying causes are treated or addressed. That’s why you should book a visit with your dentist and ensure nothing is wrong.
A toothache’s cause can be minor or big, so it’s best to rule them out with a professional. Doing so will help you catch underlying problems before things get more serious. That way, you’ll be less likely to suffer problems like tooth decay, tooth infections, gum disease, or worse. There’s also the fact that learning your ache’s source can bring you much-needed peace of mind.
Most emergency rooms aren’t trained or equipped to do tooth extractions. Tooth removal requires proper certification, meaning only licensed dentists can perform it legally.
You see, an ER’s staff is only prepared to address more general health conditions. Anything that requires special dental knowledge will require an actual dentist’s help. At best, the ER will only provide you with antibiotics and pain medication. They won’t be able to address your underlying problem.
More importantly, please don’t assume at the outset that you need an extraction. There's a good chance that dentistry can still save your tooth. For example, a root canal may relieve your tooth’s pain and prevent the need for its removal.
Sadly, the fact is that chipped teeth don’t (and can’t) heal from the damage they suffer. The only way to repair them is to see a qualified dentist for treatment.
The reason chipped teeth don’t heal is because enamel lacks blood vessels. Being made of calcium phosphate, this layer of your smile lacks the blood cells that can help an injury recover. The best it can do is “remineralize” to make the tooth (or teeth) stronger.
If you want your chipped tooth to heal, you should see your local dentist. They can hide or repair the chip with restorative or cosmetic services.
True enough, you can rinse a knocked-out tooth with water. Doing so will remove any debris clinging to it and keep it clean. However, you shouldn’t place or submerge this tooth in water.
The main issue is that water can damage a tooth’s root surface cells. If such damage occurs, a dentist may not be able to place your pearly white back in its socket. You’d then have to get a replacement tooth if you want to fill your smile gap.
Rather than place it in water, there are other things you could do for your knocked-out tooth. One good option is to set it back in its open socket, holding it in place until you get treatment. Another idea is to place the tooth in milk or saline solution for up to an hour.
Usually, throbbing tooth pain is a sign of an infection. There are some cases where the root of the problem is a large cavity or a crack in the enamel. As you can see, it’s never good news, which is why we recommend scheduling an appointment with our Costa Mesa dental team when you first start experiencing abnormal symptoms.
If you can’t get to our office the same day for an exam, don’t worry – that doesn’t mean you’ll have to deal with poor sleep in the meantime. The first step to keeping sensitivity, discomfort, and soreness to a minimum is choosing soft, smile-friendly foods at dinner, like oatmeal. The second is taking OTC pain medication 30 minutes before bed and using a cold compress in 10-minute intervals. The third and final step is propping yourself up on some pillows so your head stays elevated while you sleep.
If you notice that there is a pimple-like bump on your gums, you might be tempted to pop it. Don’t! This will cause the infection to spread, and, ultimately, it doesn’t address the root of the problem. The best thing to do is schedule an appointment with us so we can open it and have it drained. Then, we can determine if further restorative care is needed, like a root canal or tooth extraction.
If you’re dealing with chronic jaw pain – even if it’s relatively mild – we recommend coming in for an exam with one of our dedicated Costa Mesa dentists. That way, they can determine if yours is stemming from nighttime grinding, TMJ dysfunction, impacted wisdom teeth, or something else entirely. Then, they can review the treatment options, share their recommendations, and get to work on creating your custom treatment plan to alleviate your discomfort in the short and long term.
Before we review the financial solutions we offer, we need to first mention that taking the “wait and see” approach won’t save you any money. That’s because dental damage – from small cavities to a large crack in your enamel – will only get worse if left untreated. So, to save both your smile and your wallet from harm, you need to schedule an emergency appointment when you first notice that something is wrong.
With all of that said, we can help make the care you need more affordable. We’re proud to welcome plans from many of the nation’s leading dental insurance providers, including Ameritas, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS), and Careington. So, if you are uninsured, don’t hesitate to provide us with your membership information so we can help you take advantage of any available benefits you have.
If you don’t have dental insurance, then consider signing up for flexible financing with CareCredit or one of our Be Smile Smart Plans! With the latter, you won’t have to deal with red tape, like yearly deductibles, and you’ll also get immediate access to discounts on restorative procedures.
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