Emergency Dentistry – Altavista, VA

How We Handle Dental Emergencies

1. Schedule Your Appointment: As soon as you notice any out-of-the-ordinary symptoms or oral pain, call our office immediately. We leave room in our schedule so we can see patients experiencing discomfort the same day, whenever appropriate.
2. Examine Your Mouth: As soon as you arrive at our office, our team will kick into action determining the source of your pain. We’ll capture diagnostic images, if necessary, and conduct a thorough visual and physical examination of your teeth and gums.
3. Plan Your Treatment: After we’ve diagnosed the problem, we’ll let you know what we’ve found and outline our recommended treatment plan. We’re also happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have!
4. Execute Your Treatment: If you’re in severe discomfort or experiencing anxiety or fear, we may recommend dental sedation before we begin your procedure. We’ll work quickly to solve the issue and restore the health and function of your smile.

The Most Common Dental Emergencies

We will make time as soon as possible to treat your urgent case if it happens during business hours, and after work, a member of our team will always be on call as well. Whether you’ve been a patient at our dental office for years or you’re brand-new, we want to provide you with the relief you need as soon as possible. But what actually counts as a dental emergency? Here are the most common cases we see:

Understanding the Cost of Dental Emergencies

The cost of your dental emergency appointment will depend on what treatment you require. After we’ve conducted a thorough examination of your teeth and gums, we’ll go over the procedures that we recommend getting your oral health back on the right track and get rid of your pain. We take pride in providing honest and transparent dentistry, so if you have any questions about the cost or details of your treatment, don’t hesitate to ask us.

How to Prevent Dental Emergencies

While you’ll never be able to protect your family from dental emergencies with a 100% success rate, here are some helpful tips that can minimize everyone’s risk over the years:

• Be careful when eating foods that are very sticky, hard, or chewy. Also, don’t chew on the ice in your drinks!
• Rely on scissors for help with opening packaging instead of your teeth.
• Always wear an oral appliance if you grind your teeth or if you participate in sports.
• Make sure to schedule regular checkups and cleanings! Our team is highly capable of catching problems when they’re still small, and we’ll be able to prevent them from becoming the dental emergencies of tomorrow.

Root Canals

Root canals are a very important service that can rescue badly injured or infected teeth from having to be extracted. One of our dentists will carefully access the affected tooth’s inner chamber, removing diseased pulp and infected nerves from within and replacing it with a similar, biocompatible substance. After the tooth has been thoroughly sealed, a custom-made restoration on top completes the process. Many patients go on to enjoy their revitalized teeth for the rest of their lives!

Learn More About Root Canal Therapy

Tooth Extractions

Tooth extractions are not a service that people are often excited about, and it’s certainly one that our team at Miller & Wolf Family Dentistry works hard to prevent in our patients each and every day. Unfortunately, it may sometimes be the right choice for protecting your oral health and your overall quality of life. For instance, the tooth may be too decayed to save with a less dire restorative service, or you’re in need of orthodontic treatment and a tooth must be removed to make space for the improvements.