Emergency Dental Care Arlington, VA

There are a few things you can do on your own before you call for help:

• For pain relief, consider taking acetaminophen (e.g. Tylenol) or ibuprofen (e.g. Advil). To help with swelling, ice the affected area for 10-20 minutes every hour.
• To relieve pain from oral mucosal lesions, creams like Orajel or Camphofenquick are fine options as they form a protective layer on the surface and help ease the pain.
• For a lip or tongue bite or any another soft tissue injury, you will benefit from pain relief by a simple application of ice or a pressure to the wounded area.
• In the event that you experience bleeding after a tooth extraction, place a folded gauze to the extraction site and keep applying light pressure. Another option is to use a tea bag; soak it, wrap it in a thin layer of gauze, and put it on the wound for an hour.
• If one part of your tooth has chipped, put soft wax over that area. Keep the chipped part safe by placing it inside a glass of milk or water with a little salt.
• In the case of an adult, if a permanent tooth gets knocked out then the best course of action is to try to put it back in as quickly as possible and support it while going to the dentist. If however, this is not an option, then put the tooth in a glass of milk or water and get professional assistance immediately.