01
It started aching on Friday and now I can't sleep.
Pain that wakes you, or that throbs without anything touching the tooth, is the kind a dentist will want to look at rather than wait out.
Wellness Dental · East Tucson
Dental emergencies in East Tucson
A dental emergency is any problem in your mouth that needs looking at now rather than at the next check-up — pain you can't ignore, a tooth that has broken or come out, swelling that is getting worse. This page explains what those usually mean and what a dentist can do about each one.
Call Now (520) 214-2484
Is This You
Is this you right now?
Emergency is a broad word. These are the situations behind most of it.
02
There's a lump on my gum and that side of my face is swollen.
That pairing points to an abscess — infection at the root of a tooth that has found somewhere to collect — and it is a reason to be seen rather than to wait.
03
Half a back tooth came away on a piece of bread.
A tooth that fractures under ordinary chewing needs examining before anyone decides how to rebuild it — how much sound tooth is left is what determines the options.
04
My son's front tooth was knocked out at the pool.
An adult tooth that has come out of its socket is the one situation here that calls for immediate care — keep the tooth, and get to a dentist as fast as you can.
05
The crown came off and it's in a napkin in my bag.
Keep it: a crown that came away cleanly can sometimes be cleaned and re-cemented, though if the tooth underneath has decayed, a new one is usually what's needed.
06
My denture cracked in half and I can't wear it.
A broken denture counts too — a dentist can look at whether the prosthesis is repairable, including repairing it temporarily while a replacement is made.
The Options
What a dentist can do about it
Emergency treatment generally has two aims: settling the pain, and limiting the damage. Which of these applies depends entirely on the tooth.
Numbing the tooth
Local anesthetic, sometimes with a numbing gel on the gum first, blocks the feeling in one small area so the tooth can be examined and worked on. It deals with the pain rather than its cause.
A temporary repair
Temporary filling material, or a crown put back with temporary cement, closes an opened-up tooth and makes it usable again. Temporary materials are not built to hold up under normal chewing indefinitely — they buy time until the definitive repair is done.
Bonding
Tooth-colored composite can be shaped over a chipped edge, and in some cases the broken fragment itself can be bonded back into place. Bonding suits smaller chips; it can stain or chip again, and it is not the answer on a heavily broken tooth.
A crown
Where a fracture has taken too much of the tooth for bonding to make sense, a crown covers what remains and holds it together. Fitting one means reducing the outer surface of the tooth first, and that part cannot be undone.
Root canal treatment
When the nerve inside a tooth is infected or dying, root canal treatment clears out the inside of the tooth and seals it, which is what allows the tooth to be kept. It is a longer appointment than a filling, and a crown is commonly paired with it afterwards.
Taking the tooth out
Some teeth are too broken down or too infected to be worth saving, and an extraction ends the problem outright. It leaves a gap, though, so it is worth asking what replacing that tooth would involve before agreeing to it.
How It Goes
How an emergency visit usually goes
Every case is different and none of this is a promise about your appointment. But emergency dental visits tend to follow the same shape.
01
Call before you set off
Calling ahead is how a dental office finds out what has happened and how long it has been going on before you arrive. Swelling, and a tooth that has come out, are the two details that change how urgent a case is, so say those first.
02
Getting the pain down
Where a tooth is painful, settling that generally comes before anything else, most often with a local anesthetic that numbs the one area being worked on.
03
Looking properly
An emergency exam covers what sets the pain off, how long it lasts and how bad it gets, alongside a look at the tooth and the gum around it. Whether an X-ray is needed depends on the case, because the things that matter most — a fracture below the gum line, an abscess at the root — do not show on the surface.
04
What happens now, and what happens later
The urgent part and the definitive repair are not always the same appointment. A temporary measure now, with the proper repair arranged for later, is a normal outcome.
Before Anything Begins
Nothing is decided before it is seen.
For planned treatment, the consultation comes first. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
A 3D scan
The consultation includes a scan, so a plan is drawn from what is actually there rather than from a guess.
A written plan
You leave with it on paper, including the cost, and decide in your own time.
One dentist
Dr. Duaa Hamoud, DMD sees you herself — the same person at the consultation and at the treatment.
The Money Part
Delta Dental, United Concordia and TRICARE are accepted.
The consultation is free and there is no obligation. You leave with the cost in writing before anything is booked, so the decision is yours to make away from the chair.
If a plan turns out not to be for you, that is a perfectly good outcome of a consultation.
Delta Dental, United Concordia & TRICARE
Accepted at the practice today.
Not one of those?
Call (520) 214-2484 and we’ll tell you where things stand.
Quick Questions
The things people ask first.
If yours isn’t here, the consultation is the place for it — or call and ask.
—of 04 open
Some things belong in a hospital rather than a dental chair. Swelling that is spreading across your face, or bleeding that will not stop under firm pressure, needs urgent medical care — go to the nearest emergency room. The tooth itself can be dealt with afterwards.
They can take the edge off for a while, because they act on the infection that has spread out from the tooth. What they do not do is treat the inside of the tooth the infection is coming from, so it tends to return once the course finishes. Treating the source means either root canal treatment or removing the tooth.
As soon as possible — an adult tooth out of its socket is treated as needing immediate care. Keep the tooth and take it with you. Whether the tooth can be held in position with a splint while the socket heals depends on the tooth itself and on how long it spent out of the mouth. Where that is not possible, root canal treatment or removal are the usual routes.
Not usually. Urgency, rather than whether someone is already on the books, is what generally decides who gets seen first. Calling is how to find out: say what has happened and when it started, because that is what a dental office needs in order to judge how soon someone should be looked at.
Also At This Practice
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No Cost, No Obligation
Start with a conversation.
About an hour with Dr. Duaa. A scan, straight answers, and a written plan you take home.
$0a $500 consultation
- A 3D scanA full digital scan of your teeth and bite, with no impression putty.
- Straight answersWhat is actually going on, what the options are, and what each one involves.
- A written planCosts included, on paper, yours to take away and think about.
- No pressureBook when you are ready, or don’t.
Parking at the door, and there is nothing to sign.