Dr. Hawryluk has treated thousands of dental emergencies, and our goal is to give you prompt pain relief.
St. Lawrence Dentistry is open six days a week (except for a few long weekend holidays). Also, we have a 24-hour answering service to take your emergency calls should you need to reach us during non-business hours. Dr. Hawryluk has ample experience in emergency dentistry. He has dealt with many dental sports injuries and for five years was the team dentist for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Marlies hockey teams. St Lawrence Dentistry is well seasoned in treating dental emergencies and has ample experience reconstructing dentition after dental trauma.
A dental emergency can take many forms. It can be related to swelling or pain in your mouth. Sometimes there can be an ‘esthetic dental emergency’ such as when a front tooth fractures before you have an essential event to attend. Similar to medical emergencies, dental emergencies must be diagnosed and treated by the appropriate clinician promptly before any condition worsens. When you arrive at St. Lawrence Dentistry, we will ask you for a brief history of your dental emergency. You must provide your dentist with the correct information and be as accurate as possible. The dentist may ask when the pain started and if it ‘comes and goes’, whether or not you have taken medication recently, and what symptoms you are having. Dr. Hawryluk Jr. will make a diagnosis and treat your dental issue.
Examples of Dental Emergencies are severe toothaches, fractured teeth, knocked-out teeth, lodged foreign bodies in teeth, and severe gum injuries.
A ‘toothache’ can be related to dental decay, reaching the dental nerve of the tooth. When this happens, the tooth can start to hurt, and sometimes the pain can be overwhelming. If this is the case and you live in Mississauga, it is best to contact St. Lawrence Dentistry as soon as possible. A toothache is often related to a dental abscess, which is essentially bacteria around a tooth. Sometimes the bacteria can rapidly expand and result in both a dental and medical emergency. Dr. Hawryluk will carefully assess the cause of your toothache and remedy the tooth pain you are having. Sometimes an emergency root canal is needed. If a tooth is very broken down, sometimes a tooth extraction is required. Antibiotics to help control a possible bacterial load may (or may not) be needed as well. Ideally, do not take ‘pain’ medication right before seeing the dentist as it can obfuscate a diagnosis. Sometimes the dental pain can be temporarily reduced by rinsing your mouth with warm water. If you’re experiencing inflammation, you can apply a cold compress to the outside of the mouth or the cheek near the inflamed area. Never try to use a painkiller or aspirin directly over the affected area because the chemicals may burn the tissue and make matters worse.
One less typical dental emergency is an ‘avulsed tooth’ which is when a tooth is completely ‘knocked out’ of the tooth socket. Unlike chipped or broken teeth, Dr. Hawryluk can sometimes push a knocked-out tooth can place back into its socket. If you knock out a tooth, it is advisable to put it on a tissue growth substance such as milk, water with a small amount of salt, or a save-a-tooth container. If you are rinsing your mouth after your tooth has been avulsed, be sure you put a cloth over the drain, so your tooth does not go down it. Successful tooth re-implantation is sometimes possible for patients who can get in touch with their dentists within one hour after the trauma. If the knocked-out piece still has some tissue attached to it, don’t try to remove it, leave it as it is and take it with you to the dentist. To avoid inflammation, you should apply a cold compress to the outside of the mouth or cheek.
A lodged foreign body is a typical dental emergency. The most common occurrence of this is when a popcorn seed gets trapped below your gum line. Most of the time, this happens in someone who has bone loss around molar teeth, and there is ample space below the gum for the object to sit. It is incredible how a small particle can cause significant inflammation in your gums. If gentle flossing cannot rid your gums of the debris, it is best to stop flossing and have your dentist examine the area. Sometimes flossing can push the debris further into the mouth gum. Dr. Hawryluk may need to place local anesthetics to clean the area with ultrasonic instruments to dislodge the object.
Fractured teeth are both an esthetic and dental emergency. Sometimes Dr. Hawryluk can fix a fracture by dental bonding. Bonding is the best-case scenario for fractured teeth because this treatment is very conservative, and a lot of times does not involve drilling on the tooth. However, sometimes the fracture can be so deep that the tooth nerve is exposed. In these cases, the dentist may have to do an additional procedure, such as a direct pulp cap or root canal treatment. Finally, if a fracture is large, a dental crown is sometimes needed to protect the tooth. The dental crown is the most durable and definitive type of dental restoration.
Well-trained dentists are best to handle mouth emergencies. However, if you are unable to reach a dentist, you may need to seek medical attention at your nearest hospital. Situations, where you may need to go to the emergency room or the hospital, are severe pain, swelling, which is increasing rapidly, trouble breathing or swallowing, and feeling febrile. The nearest hospital to St. Lawrence Dentistry is Trillium Hospital on Queensway. The medical team at the hospital will consult with the dentists/oral surgeons on staff if needed.
In addition to being open on weekdays, we are open on Saturdays for your convenience. St. Lawrence Dentistry is ready to help with your dental emergency in a prompt, professional manner. If you need an emergency dentist in Mississauga, please give us a call.
