What is the definition of an emergency? Emergencies require swift and urgent action and taking that action shoots to the top of the priority list. Some dental emergencies creep up on us — we’ve been living with a mildly uncomfortable tooth for a few days, but it’s woken us up in the middle of the night as a raging toothache that is making our whole head hurt, including our ears and that bit down the side of the throat.

In other emergencies, dental pain in Guildford may not be at the top of the list of issues. Instead it might be that tooth that until a few seconds ago was in your mouth and is now lying over there next to your BMX/skateboard/tennis racquet. There are so many ways we can get our teeth knocked out, and sometimes the shock of it means we don’t feel any pain for a bit.

This is the time to act. If you can, whip out a piece of clean material, such as a tissue and pick up the tooth by the crown, being careful to avoid the root. If you are at home, you can wash it carefully; the best way is to lick it, but rinsing it in water is also good. Then try to put it back into its socket. If that won’t work, you can just tuck it inside your cheek or store it in milk. Try not to let it dry out. If it’s your young child’s tooth that has been knocked out, don’t try to put it back, store it in milk and bring your child and their tooth to us.

Get to us at Farnham Road Dental Practice in Guildford as soon as possible. If you can see a dentist within an hour of your tooth ending up in front of your feet, you stand a good chance of it settling back into its socket permanently.

Broken teeth

If you can find the broken off bit, store that in milk and bring it over as we might be able to glue it back on.

Mouth guards

If you, or your nearest and dearest, regularly does a sport that could knock teeth out, you should get a mouth guard.