Emergency Pediatric Dentist — Temple, TX
Professional Care When Your Child Needs It Most
Children are both energetic and clumsy, which can lead to accidents where their teeth pay the price. Not only that, but they also often lack the diligence of brushing and flossing. As a result, they’re more likely to suffer from severe toothaches that need immediate treatment. If your child ever finds themselves experiencing a dental emergency in Temple, don’t hesitate to give our office a call. We’ll do everything we can to provide relief and get your child’s smile back on the right track!
Why Choose Temple Choice Dental for Emergency Dental Care?
- Same-Day Emergency Appointments Available
- Advanced Dental Technology
- Kind and Friendly Team of Professionals
How We Treat Dental Emergencies
- Schedule a same-day appointment. Does your child have a dental emergency? Give us a call right away! We’ll schedule you in as soon as possible, likely on the same day as your child’s injury.
- Perform a quick examination. When you get to our office, we’ll thoroughly check your child’s mouth and take X-rays to determine the extent of the issue.
- Review findings and treatment options. Our team will go over the findings with you and explain your treatment options.
- Get your child the care they need. Once you’ve agreed to a treatment plan, we’ll work quickly to get your child prompt relief. Before you know it, they’ll be back to enjoying a beautiful, healthy smile once again!
The Most Common Pediatric Dental Emergencies
As a parent, it can be hard to stay calm when your child is in pain. However, it’s incredibly important to stay calm and collected while you navigate this predicament. The first thing you should do is give our office a call, even if you’re unsure whether your child’s situation qualifies as an emergency. We’ll provide first-aid instructions and schedule an appointment right away. In the meantime, click on the icons below to learn how to handle some of the most common pediatric dental emergencies.
Understanding the Cost of Pediatric Dental Emergencies
Since every child is unique, there is no fixed price for emergency dental care. Don’t worry, though – that doesn’t mean you’ll be left in the dark about the cost. After completing a comprehensive oral exam, we can discuss the treatment options available (and the price of each) in-depth. In the meantime, you can read on to learn more on the topic, including what financial solutions are available at our Temple dental office.
Every Pediatric Dental Emergency is Different – Here’s Why
The cost of emergency dental care can vary significantly depending on the type of dental damage they’ve sustained, how severe the damage is, and which treatment (or treatments) are needed to restore their healthy, beautiful smile.
When you bring your little one to our office, we’ll quickly evaluate their situation and recommend treatments based on their unique case. Before moving forward with anything, we’ll thoroughly explain the price, so you know exactly what to expect. Although no two situations are exactly the same, our goal is always to make navigating the financial side of your child’s care simple, not stressful.
Does Dental Insurance Cover Pediatric Dental Emergencies?
Oftentimes, dental insurance providers cover essential preventive care as well as a portion of the cost of restorative treatments, like fillings, crowns, and root canals. So, don’t hesitate to provide us with your membership information! We’re proud to work with Aetna, Cigna, Delta Dental, Guardian, and several others, and we’d be happy to help you utilize any available benefits that you have to make the dental care your child needs as affordable as possible.
Other Options for Making Pediatric Dental Emergencies Affordable
What if you don’t have dental insurance? In that case, we recommend exploring the other financial solutions that are available, like:
- Flexible Financing – With trusted third-party financiers, like CareCredit, you can break up the total cost of your child’s treatment plan into smaller, more budget-friendly installments.
- Our Special Offers – We offer periodic promotions throughout the year to help you save, like a $85 children’s new patient visit for patients 13 and under.
If you’d like more details, simply give our Temple dental team a call!
Taking Care Of Your Child’s Smile Can Save You Money
Many common dental injuries are preventable, including knocked-out teeth. For this reason, we strongly recommend prioritizing healthy habits. That starts with the obvious ones, like brushing and flossing, and extends to making sure your child wears a mouthguard during sports and comes to our office every six months for a checkup and cleaning.
Important reminder: If your child starts to experience dental sensitivity, pain when biting down, or any other abnormal symptoms, don’t wait – schedule an exam at our office right away. That way, we can determine if an untreated oral health problem is the culprit. If that’s the case, then we can provide the necessary restorative care before it gets any worse.
Keys to Preventing Pediatric Dental Emergencies
Whether your child has developed a severe toothache, lost a filling, or has developed some other dental emergency, our team in Temple offers a complete menu of pediatric services to help treat the root problem.
But the best way to address urgent oral scenarios is to avoid them in the first place! Continue reading to learn about proactive ways that you can help your child prevent common dental concerns that can lead to same-day visits to help safeguard their still-developing smile!
Schedule Routine Preventive Visits
It’s easy to assume that your kid’s mouth is healthy if you haven’t noticed obvious issues, like visible tooth decay or bleeding gums. But the truth is that they can develop hidden concerns in difficult-to-see or reach places, like between teeth, below their gumline, or behind their molars, and grow increasingly more severe the longer they go untreated, eventually requiring a same-day visit to repair.
Seeing our team for a routine exam and cleaning every 6 months allows us to monitor your child’s dental health, allowing us to catch and treat any problems before they become urgent.
Implement an At-Home Oral Hygiene Routine
Visiting our team twice annually is an effective way to help avoid dental problems, but it’s also essential that your child practice consistent dental hygiene habits at home, too.
For example, the American Dental Association recommends brushing and flossing twice daily to remove plaque and bacteria buildup that contribute to common concerns, such as cavities or gum disease, which can contribute to emergencies.
Encourage Them to Eat a Nutritious Diet
Minimizing your child’s consumption of overly sugary and acidic foods and drinks can help protect their teeth from potential tooth decay. But you can also help strengthen your child’s smile by providing wholesome foods that support their dental well-being.
For instance, dairy products, like milk, yogurt, and cheese, contain lots of calcium to help build resilient teeth and bones. You can also encourage your child to eat more citrus fruits and leafy greens, many of which are high in vitamin C for healthy connective tissues.
Provide a Mouthguard for Physical Activities
Plenty of kids participate in team sports, martial arts, or other extracurricular activities that put their teeth at risk. For instance, they could sustain a blow to the face that chips, cracks, breaks, or knocks out a tooth.
Thankfully, our team can provide a custom-fitted mouthguard to cushion their teeth and prevent potential physical trauma.
Discourage Them from Using Their Teeth As Tools
Does your child tend to anxiously nibble pen caps or their fingernails, or bite and tear packages with their teeth to open them? If so, they might accidentally damage their enamel or cut their gums.
Discouraging your child from using their teeth as tools or from biting or chewing hard objects can help prevent issues that might otherwise require an emergency visit.
Pediatric Dental Emergency FAQs
If your child knocks out a tooth or sustains another serious dental injury, you may panic. How can you help them? Where should you take them for treatment? Don’t worry – our Temple dental team is just a phone call away. Plus, we dedicated this next section to answering FAQs we hear from parents about pediatric dental emergencies.
Will my child’s toothache go away on its own?
No, toothaches typically do not go away on their own. In fact, if your child was complaining of tooth pain and their symptoms are now gone, that may be a sign that an infection has “killed” the nerve, necessitating root canal therapy. In short, we recommend giving our team a call when your child first brings any abnormal dental symptoms to your attention. That way, we can restore the function of their tooth and the health of their smile ASAP.
Should I take my child to the emergency room for dental emergencies?
The ER will certainly be able to alleviate any pain your child is experiencing. However, it’s rare for hospitals to have a dentist on staff, which is why we don’t recommend taking them to the ER unless they have fractured their jaw or are experiencing potentially life-threatening symptoms (i.e., difficulty swallowing, trouble breathing, uncontrollable bleeding). If your child has knocked out a tooth, has an abscess on their gums, or is experiencing another abnormal dental symptom, then call our Temple dental team right away.
Do chipped teeth heal?
Enamel has a lot of benefits, including that it’s the hardest substance in the human body. However, it cannot regenerate. So, if your child has chipped one of their teeth, the only way to restore the missing structure is by visiting us for treatment.
Are knocked-out baby teeth a dental emergency?
Yes, a knocked-out baby tooth is a dental emergency, particularly if it came out earlier than expected. If this happens to your child, then do your best to assess their symptoms. If they have dislocated their jaw or the bleeding doesn’t stop within 10 minutes, take them to the ER. If the only issue at hand is that their tooth is out of its socket, then call our office. We will give you step-by-step instructions on what to do until your child arrives for treatment with our Temple emergency dentist.
Should knocked-out teeth be placed in water?
When an adult loses a tooth, it can be placed back in its socket. However, that’s not recommended for primary teeth since they are supposed to fall out. The best thing to do in this situation is call our team ASAP. That way, we can give you instructions on how to handle this dental injury with important information in mind, including your child’s age.
Can I pop a dental abscess on my own?
No, you should never pop a dental abscess on your own. This can result in further dental damage, including exposing your child’s mouth to additional bacteria. If you notice a pimple-like bump on your child’s gums, call us right away.