An after hours dentist Adelaide is no longer an aberration in a medical profession that keeps regular hours. In the past, after hours dentist Adelaide can only be seen in the trauma unit of large hospitals where maxillofacial surgery may need to be performed for broken jaw or avulsion, or teeth knocked out by a hard blow (either because of injury or accident). Even then, they are mostly on call, and do not really maintain regular after-hours consultation.
Now, given the reality that trauma to the teeth can happen anytime and cannot wait dental consultation the next day, there is an increasing number in after hours dentist Adelaide who keep office after all daytime dentists have gone home. Below are some of the dental emergencies that require immediate attention from after hours dentist Adelaide.
After Hours Dentist Adelaide Scenarios
• Broken/cracked tooth. This condition can usually wait for daytime consultation, but if the teeth have been broken or have cracked due to injury or accident, then immediate attention by an after hours Adelaide dentist is crucial. The pain can be unbearable, and some patients cannot wait until the next day to have the teeth repaired.
• Broken jaw. Often caused by sharp trauma, a broken jaw requires emergency maxillofacial surgery.
• Avulsion or knocked out teeth. Another emergency requiring after hours dentist Adelaide is avulsion due to trauma caused by accidents or injuries. Sometimes, teeth are knocked out without accompanying injury to the face or jaws. In such a case, a patient can wait until the next day to consult a dentist.
• Ludwig’s angina. Dental infections that are left untreated could lead to Ludwig’s angina or angina ludovici, a potentially life-threatening swelling of the connective tissues of the floor of the mouth and require emergency attention from after hours dentist Adelaide. About 80% of the condition is caused by staphylococci, bacteroides, and alpha-hemolytic streptococci. The areas normally infected are the lower molars, or the gums surrounding partially erupted third molars. Symptoms usually include bleeding from the gums, pain, sensitivity to heat/cold and swelling at the angle of the jaw. Urgent maxillofacial surgery may have to be performed by after hours dentist Adelaide to drain the collection of abscess.
• Trench mouth or Vincent’s angina. Also called acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis or ANUG, trench mouth is an emergency scenario that need to be treated by an after hours dentist Adelaide when pain cannot be alleviated. Trench mouth happens when the infection of the gum tissue becomes acute. Bad breath, painful bright-red gingival bleeding, and punched-out ulceration are symptoms of this condition. In some cases, the infection progresses deeper into the periodontal tissues (those that surround and support the teeth) that require urgent medical attention from after hours dentist Adelaide because the premature death of cells in living tissues (necrosis) is often fatal.
• Dental barotrauma. There are miniature voids within a filled tooth that can either contract or expand in response to changes in barometric pressure. This usually happens when the external pressure results to the expansion of contraction of trapped air in the hollows of the tooth. Pain often results, and rarely, fracturing. When that happens, after hours dentist Adelaide will have to remove the tooth to avoid intense pain.