Emergency Care

Treating toothache with painkillers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen (also helps to reduce swelling) can help short term while you are waiting to see your dentist. You could swish your mouth with warm salty water to help clean the mouth from infection while you see the dentist. The longer you leave toothache the worse the problem is likely to get. Call us on 01420 544408 for an appointment as soon as possible, emergency appointments are available every day if the pain is severe, although you may not see your regular dentist. We will likely need to take an x-ray of the area to check for infection, cracks etc.

A broken tooth may need to be filled with a filling if there is some decay, an x-ray will help to see the extent of the damage or decay. Not all broken teeth care caused by decay so may not need a filling. The tooth can be made to look whole and natural again with a crown, depending on the size of the break. More information on Crowns http://www.watercressdental.co.uk/crown.html

The abscess may need to be treated with antibiotics to help reduce infection and swelling. A filling or root canal filling may be required to remove the decayed part of the tooth. Root canal treatment is usually done over two or sometimes three appointments depending on the complexity of the tooth roots and extent of decay. Between appointments your tooth will be secured with a temporary filling to keep the sensitive area covered and clean so you can carry on as normal between appointments. Root canal treatment can costs around £ (up to 15% off available on our plans)

Wisdom tooth coming through can be uncomfortable and cause tender or swollen gums. This isn’t normally a problem and can be easily eased. Wisdom tooth discomfort is normally treated initially with pain killers and/ or antibiotics and a warm salty mouthwash can help with sore or swollen gums. More painful or on-going pain may need to be further investigated to see if the tooth is growing at an angle into other teeth (we call this impacted), which could be quite painful and the tooth may need to be removed. Depending on the complexity of the wisdom tooth extraction, this can be done by your regular dentist or our specialist oral Surgeon at our surgery.

Wisdom tooth coming through can be uncomfortable and cause tender or swollen gums. This isn’t normally a problem and can be easily eased. Wisdom tooth discomfort is normally treated initially with pain killers and/ or antibiotics and a warm salty mouthwash can help with sore or swollen gums. More painful or on-going pain may need to be further investigated to see if the tooth is growing at an angle into other teeth (we call this impacted), which could be quite painful and the tooth may need to be removed. Depending on the complexity of the wisdom tooth extraction, this can be done by your regular dentist or our specialist oral Surgeon at our surgery.

If the inner part of the tooth is exposed, this will need to be filled with a filling. If the chip is minor you may not need any treatment or any sharp edges could be removed. Minor chips in your tooth are unlikely to be causing you any pain because the sensitive core is not exposed. Possible treatment for cracked tooth A cracked tooth may need to be filled if there is any decay. Often placing a crown on the top of the tooth is enough to hold the tooth together securely.

In some cases where the tooth is beyond repair, we may need to have the tooth extracted. Depending on the complexity of the extraction (based on the tooth, it’s condition and the shape/position of the roots) depends on how long and how much it will cost. We do have a specialist oral surgeon at Watercress Dental.