Dental Emergency

In case of dental emergency, please call us at 617-277-5200. Please note that if there is loss of consciousness associated with any dental trauma, it is important that you call your pediatrician as well.

Your smile is very important to us. When your child needs emergency dental treatment we are on call and ready to help. Most dental emergencies are due to trauma but can also include dental infection.  Children often injure their teeth, especially their front teeth. Sometimes the extent and degree of injury are not apparent at the time of injury.

Signs of significant dental injury which should be assessed by a pediatric dentist include:

* Change in tooth color, such as a yellow, gray or black
* Development of pimple-like swelling on the gum. This forms when the nerve of the tooth has died and has become infected. This requires immediate treatment to avoid potential damage to the underlying developing permanent tooth. 
* Swelling and/or pain that develops over days to weeks following trauma needs an immediate evaluation to rule out infection.

A common question asked by patients and their parents is: Does it matter if the baby tooth is injured? Doesn’t it fall out anyway? Since the roots of the primary “baby” teeth are close to the developing permanent teeth, an injury to the primary teeth can result in damage to permanent teeth including: abnormal development of the root, failure to erupt or erupting in an abnormal position and failure of development. If there is injury to a primary tooth it is important to closely evaluate the progress of the permanent tooth’s development.