Dental Emergencies in Barrie, Ontario

If you have a dental emergency in Barrie, and are in need of immediate dental assistance, please feel free to call us. We understand that dental accidents can happen, and usually seem to happen at the worst possible times and when help is not available.

Broken teeth, infected teeth or gums, facial trauma involving the mouth; these are all things that we see. Even if they turn out not to need immediate treatment, it is always helpful to be able to reach someone who can offer some advice.

If something is giving you low-grade pain in your mouth, jaw joints (TMJs), or in the way that you bite, please visit a dental clinic and have it examined! These may be early warning signs that something is brewing, and can often be treated more easily at lower cost. Dental pain is often episodic, coming and going at random, so the early subtle symptoms in the mouth are important as well.

Some quick advice:

1. Tooth has been knocked out

This should be seen at your dental office right away. If you don’t have one and you are in the Barrie, Ontario area, give us a call or email.

If a tooth has been knocked out, you have about 30 minutes to get the tooth back in the socket successfully (really, the data seems to suggest 5 minutes). Try to locate the tooth and inspect it. If the root seems intact, put it back in your mouth to quickly “wash” it with your saliva and see if someone can be confident enough to try to put it back in the socket. This will hurt, but it will give you the best chance of reimplantation. DO NOT SCRUB THE TOOTH OR WRAP IT IN A DRY PAPER TOWEL. Your goal is to keep the cells on the root surface alive! If you cannot find a way to re-insert the tooth, bring it to your dental office in some milk. Contrary to popular belief, milk does not “stop the clock”. You still need to get to your dental clinic as soon as possible.  NOTE: primary (baby) teeth should not be reimplanted.  If you cannot tell if it is a baby tooth or not, try to put it back in the socket with the understanding that your dentist may want it extracted again.

2. Tooth has been broken and/or loosened/displaced

Again, this needs to be seen at your dental office as soon as possible for evaluation.

Try to recover all the broken pieces. Even if we cannot reattach them, it will let your dentist see what broke off.

If there is bleeding, do not panic. Bleeding from gums is common and will likely stop quickly. Gums usually heal nicely, but your dental office will need to determine if any bone has been broken.

If a tooth has been displaced but not knocked out, see if it can be repositioned into the correct alignment. If that is too painful, simply try to leave the area alone and prevent any further trauma to the site (for example, from the biting of the opposing teeth).

Treatment may be as simple as reattaching a broken tooth fragment, or it may mean a referral off to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon if bone has been broken.  Your dental office will be able to determine the proper management for your emergency, and in Barrie, we are lucky enough to have a variety of excellent specialists nearby.

3. Pain in the mouth of dental (tooth) or periodontal (gum) or other soft tissue origin.

Pain should be reported to your dentist as soon as you notice it, because not all serious dental problems give severe pain. These could be infections in their early stages. Appropriate antibiotics or dental/periodontal treatment should be started as soon as a diagnosis is made.

If a tooth infection is indeed beginning, then the solution would be either root canal therapy or extraction.

If a gum infection is becoming painful, it may be simply some foreign debris below gum level that needs to be cleaned out, or it may be more serious like a semi-erupted wisdom tooth that needs to be removed. Either way, your Barrie dentist will determine the best course if action.

We can be reached by phone and email, even after regular business hours. See our contact information, or simply send us a message from this website. Our goal is to provide you with a dental support system that can help you when you need it, because dentistry does not end at the dental office.  Here’s to your oral health!