Is My Tooth Pain in La Porte a Dental Emergency?

When your tooth is hurting, your first instinct may be to buy a pain reliever from the pharmacy and then forget about it if the pain goes away. But is this the right approach? It’s okay to forget some things in life, but others require investigating. Keep reading to learn from your dentist if tooth pain in La Porte is a dental emergency.

Why Do I Feel Tooth Pain?

The human body has a complex network of neurons and cells, better known as the nervous system, that constantly transmits information. It tells your muscles to move and relays messages to your brain that serve as warnings. Triggering a pain response is one way to warn you. Usually, pain arises to let you know there is a problem requiring your attention.

What Am I Supposed to Do About a Toothache?

There are levels of tooth pain, which tends to cause some people to disregard it unless the pain is severe. It’s an indication something is wrong, so the worst thing you can do is ignore it.

To be safe, call your dentist and provide as many details as possible about the toothache. They will likely schedule an appointment for you as soon as possible. In the meantime, you can manage your tooth pain in La Porte by:

• Flossing around the area carefully to ensure you don’t have a food particle trapped between your teeth.
• Rinsing your mouth out with salt water to minimize the risk of bacterial infection.
• Taking a pain reliever as directed on the label. Acetaminophen and ibuprofen are usually the best options for toothaches.
• Holding a cold compress to your cheek for 10 minutes at a time. This can address swelling, as well as pain.

What’s the Harm If I Disregard a Toothache?

Tooth pain is usually the result of infection or decay in the sensitive inner layers of a tooth. Unlike most other parts of the body, teeth cannot heal themselves when infected or damaged. Because of that, your toothache won’t go away if you ignore it. Delaying treatment might cause the infection to spread to your surrounding teeth, gums, or jaw. If the infection reaches your bloodstream, it could trigger systemic illness.

A toothache in La Porte isn’t always a dental emergency, but it’s a situation of better safe than sorry because of the potential consequences of an untreated infection. You should visit your emergency dentist as soon as you can after a toothache strikes since they can offer pain relief and make sure you won’t face long-term issues.

About the Practice

At Region Dental, we promise gentle, personalized care as your dentist in La Porte. The most important thing is that you feel completely satisfied with the results at the end of a procedure. If you have a toothache or recently dealt with one, you should have an examination. We offer early morning and evening appointments, plus you should ask about a same-day appointment if you feel like it might be an emergency. Give us a call at (219) 362-8980 so we can get to the root of the problem as soon as possible.