Dental health refers to the well-being of organs that make up your dental system. These organs range from the teeth, tongue, jaw, mouth, and more. This aspect of human health is often overlooked and is a bad thing because the well-being of the dental system can influence your general health. The reason why dental health is often overlooked is because of a lack of information.

The lack of information in this context refers to not having detailed knowledge about dental health. This article exists to help you stay informed by highlighting some factors that can affect your dental health, how to spot a dental emergency, and actions to take when you spot a dental emergency.

Factors that Can Affect Your Dental Health

Specific factors can affect your dental health and result in dental pain. These factors include:

  1. Poor dental hygiene: Some may argue that they brush regularly, use fluoride-containing toothpaste, and floss regularly. These are some of the steps to maintaining dental hygiene. However, using your teeth for some activities that are harmful to your dental health can also be classified as poor dental hygiene.
  2. A hit to the mouth: There is a specific reason combat athletes use mouth guards when performing. They are used to protect their mouth from hits. Hard hits like a fall can cause serious damage to your dental health resulting in pains.
  3. Smoking and poor nutrition: Cigarettes contain contents that are harmful to your dental health. Poor nutrition means taking foods that do not contain the nutrients your dental health needs. This results in your dental health deteriorating.

How to Spot A Dental Emergency

The primary way to spot a dental emergency is through pain. Pain is how the body communicates to you that something is wrong. However, dental pain is considered an emergency when it affects your quality of life, like preventing you from sleeping or reducing your activity level.

Some dental issues that can be considered a dental emergency include:

  • A knocked-out or broken tooth courtesy of a hit to the mouth.
  • Toothaches, especially those that worsen when you lay down.
  • Dental infection
  • Broken or partially broken denture.
  • Wisdom teeth pain can be caused when the wisdom teeth begin to displace other teeth close to it
  • Dry socket
  • Lost crown or lost filling

Actions to Take When You Spot a Dental Emergency

This is the sequence of actions to take when you spot an emergency dental:

  1. Book an appointment with a dentist: If the dentist is available to attend to you immediately after you notice the problem, visit the dentist immediately for a solution. If the dentist is not available to see you immediately, below are some steps.
  2. Use a mixture of salt and warm water: A mixture of salt and warm water can be used to relieve the pain by using the mixture to rinse your mouth for about 20 minutes.
  3. Use pain reliefs: Try getting over-the-counter non-steroid anti-inflammatory pain relief medication.
  4. Apply ice to your jaw to help cool the pain.

Conclusion

Dental emergencies can happen to anybody, and it is the knowledge you have about this situation that can help you scale through. This article has highlighted some vital information on what to do in cases of a dental emergency. However, you must see an emergency dentist as soon as possible.

 

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