Everyone’s nightmare scenario is being out or at home, then suddenly something happens that damages your teeth and you have nowhere to turn. Normally the logical option would be to contact the dentist, but what if it’s out of hours or you’re not registered at a practice yet? That’s where this little guide comes in. Here are a few tips that should make finding a dentist in an emergency a little easier.
Figure out if it’s an emergency
First of all, before you go hunting down an emergency dentist in Buckinghamshire, you need to figure out if it’s an emergency or not. Generally, most problems can wait to be fixed at a practice, but if you’re still unsure, here are a few things to keep an eye out for. It’s a dental emergency if there’s bleeding, broken orthodontics like braces, objects stuck in your teeth, severe toothache that doesn’t subside with painkillers, lost fillings, broken or missing teeth or a damaged implant or crown.
Remain calm
After figuring out what’s wrong the best thing you can do is to remain calm, panicking will make the situation and yourself feel worse. If there’s bleeding try to pad it with gauze or a bandage to slow the blood flow, apply a gentle amount of pressure whilst you do this. If it’s a break you should try to find the fractured pieces. If you have a whole tooth knocked out, you should put it back in place if you can, this will stop it from drying out which will damage it more. Otherwise keep it in milk until you can get to the dentist.
Start your search
Generally, you can find a lot of good results online, just plug your city name and what you need into a search engine and browse what pops up. Yelp or Google Maps are a good research tools as both provide reviews and location-based results, so you can filter out options that are too far out for you.
Research your choice
After selecting your practice, if you can, do some research on them. Look into what treatments they have, prices and availability. The majority of practices tend to offer out of hours treatments in emergency cases, or if not, there may be a chance to get a short notice appointment. You should also try to see if there are any reviews by previous patients, as this might give you an insight on how they operate and if they are a good value for your money. After all, just because it’s an emergency, it doesn’t mean you have to break the bank to get help.
Contact the practice
Once you’ve researched every detail about your choice, the next step is to get in touch and get an appointment made. Most practices have phone or email addresses and you can always stop by in person to chat with them as well.
