Emergency Dentistry – Newbury Park, CA

Quick Treatment for Urgent Dental Problems

Dental emergencies can happen at any time. When they do, you need to remain calm and call Paraiso Family Dental & Orthodontics right away for an emergency appointment. We don’t just stop your pain; we identify the root cause and put together a plan to treat it as quickly as possible. Dr. Chaffee has been practicing dentistry for more than four decades, and he’s prepared to put all of that experience to good use saving your smile with emergency dentistry in Newbury Park, CA.

Woman in need of emergency dentistry holding cheek in pain

Why Choose Paraiso Family Dental & Orthodontics for Emergency Dentistry?

  • Same-Day and Weekend Appointments
  • Convenient Location with No Traffic
  • Dentist with Decades of Experience

How We Treat Dental Emergencies

Woman in dental chair to receive emergency dentistry treatment

While no two dental emergencies are exactly alike, we generally follow these steps for treating them:

  • When we receive your call, we’ll give you advice for temporarily managing the pain and protecting your smile from further damage on your own. We can then set up an emergency appointment for you. We offer same-day and weekend emergency appointments.
  • Once you arrive, we’ll treat any severe pain you’re experiencing and perform a complete examination of your teeth and gums, which will likely involve taking X-rays. Our goal is to locate the source of the problem and determine just how extensive the existing damage is.
  • We’ll give you recommendations for treatment based on our findings. In addition to explaining why the treatment is necessary, we’ll also go over the timeline and the estimated costs involved.
  • After a course of treatment has been decided on, we’ll do everything we can to complete it as soon as possible so that you can find relief and restore your smile as soon as possible.

The Most Common Dental Emergencies

Some dental emergencies are characterized by the pain they cause while others are known for the physical damage to the teeth and gums that they involve. Below is a list of some of the most common types of dental emergencies; call us immediately if you notice the following symptoms, and we’ll make arrangements to see you as soon as we can.

Understanding the Cost
of Dental Emergencies

Woman in pain before emergency dentistry treatment

Once you’ve made your emergency appointment, you’ll probably start worrying about the cost of your emergency. Our first priority will always be to get you out of pain and restore your oral health, but we will only move forward with a given procedure after we’ve given you a reliable estimate of how much you’ll pay. Some treatments are as simple as placing a filling while others (such as root canal therapy or extraction) are more complex; the final price will be determined by what is truly necessary for your oral health.

Keys to Preventing
Dental Emergencies

Woman discussing emergency dentistry prevention with her dentist

You can save yourself time, money, and trouble by not having a dental emergency in the first place. You can’t prevent every problem, of course, but you can lower your personal risk for dental emergencies by:

  • Brushing and flossing two times every day
  • Visiting our office for a checkup every six months
  • Not opening packages with your teeth
  • Breaking bad habits like smoking or chewing your fingernails
  • Eating oral health-friendly foods as opposed to sugary treats

Dental Emergency FAQs

Illustration of large tooth standing next to an emergency kit

It’s easier to stay calm during a dental emergency when you feel like you have all the information you need to handle the situation. To make sure you’re prepared, we encourage you to ask about our emergency services during your next checkup. Of course, in the event that you need an emergency appointment, we’ll also be happy to answer any questions you have at that time. Below are some common inquiries about dental emergencies that we’ve received from patients in the past.

Should I Visit the Emergency Room First for Dental Emergencies?

The only time you should call the emergency room for a dental emergency is when there’s a life-threatening complication, which generally means one of the following:

  • A fractured or dislocated jaw
  • An injury in your mouth that won’t stop bleeding
  • Swelling that is affecting your ability to breathe or swallow

In any other situation involving an urgent dental issue, you should call your dentist first. Most emergency rooms do not have the means to properly address broken teeth and other dental emergencies; thus, reaching out to your dentist is the most reliable way to get your smile the care it needs.

Are Knocked-Out Baby Teeth an Emergency?

Baby teeth are supposed to come out, so if one is lost in an accident, it doesn’t have to be placed back in your child’s mouth. That said, you should still schedule an appointment with us if the tooth doesn’t fall out naturally. We’ll need to make sure that there wasn’t any damage done to the rest of your child’s mouth.

If a baby tooth comes out earlier than it should, the remaining teeth might drift out of place, and the permanent tooth might not be able to erupt properly. Our team will take whatever steps are necessary to address these issues and ensure that a knocked-out baby tooth does not disrupt your child’s dental development.

Should Knocked-Out Teeth Be Placed in Water?

It’s important to keep a knocked-out tooth from drying out. However, you should not place the tooth in water. Doing so will permanently damage the roots and make it less likely that the tooth will be able to join with the jawbone again. For this reason, it’s better to put the tooth back in its socket or to store it in milk or saline solution. All that being said, it’s okay to use water to rinse off any debris that might be on the tooth.

What Does Chronic Bad Breath Mean?

If you have bad breath that doesn’t seem to have a specific cause, it could be a warning sign of an oral health issue that you won’t be able to address on your own. Cavities, gum disease, and dental infections can all potentially cause bad breath. Even if you don’t notice any pain, you should call our office if your bad breath does not go away on its own after a few days; we’ll examine your mouth thoroughly to determine the underlying cause.