Emergency Orthodontic Care Everyone has heard a story like this one. We had a parent who was playing flag football with his son. They had a small team going on in the backyard, and everyone was having a great time - until our parent took a football right in his mouth. He ended up with a lot of bruising and two missing front teeth. The problem with this particular parent is that he had braces on his top teeth, which was a huge problem. He needed emergency orthodontic care right away.If you wear braces, appliances, or other orthodontic equipment, you need to know about emergency orthodontic care. Let All About Orthodontics® tell you about emergency orthodontic care. What Is An Orthodontic Emergency?We know that emergencies can happen to our patients any time of day or night. Orthodontic emergencies may be significant - like our patient and the football to the face - or small. If you are in an accident and you are in pain, or you notice damage, you need to come in to see us, because we don’t want your treatment to get delayed. Orthodontic emergencies do come in different categories of seriousness. Often, someone with braces will break a wire, and it will begin to poke into your cheek, your gums, or in other areas of your mouth. This is a minor emergency. You may break a bracket, which is also a minor emergency. Your brackets and bands could become loose and delay treatment times. What would be a major emergency? You may find out that you’re allergic to the metal used in your orthodontic. That’s a major emergency. If you are in an accident, or you are injured, and it has affected your mouth, that would also be a major emergency. A Word of WarningWe need to let you know that if you are in pain, or you have experienced trauma to your mouth, don’t hesitate. You need to come and see us. Please don’t attempt to fix any orthodontic problem by yourself. You may hesitate on whether or not you want to call us, but if you are in pain, or you are having a problem, we want you to call us. If you wait to see us, there is the potential you might make your small orthodontic problem a bigger problem. If you are in pain, or you have had facial trauma, come and see us. If you think it is severe enough - a child choking on a piece of their appliance, for example, don’t call us. Call 911 instead. Procedure for Getting to Emergency Orthodontic CareWhen an emergency occurs, please call us as soon as possible. That way, we can schedule you to come in as quickly as possible. We always try to schedule you within 24 hours of your call. While you’re waiting to come in and see us, there are some things you can do to help with pain or discomfort. We can give you wax to put on brackets and wires. We’ll tell you about ice and other forms of pain relief that we can provide you over the counter or with a prescription. When you come in to see us, we’ll repair or replace your broken orthodontic. While we’re fixing your orthodontic, this would be a great time to ask us questions. We know the larger question you want to ask is about treatment time - please talk to us about it. The most important thing for us is to make you comfortable again. If you have questions about emergency orthodontic care, give All About Orthodontics® a call at us at 586-999-8818 for Warren location or at 734-999-4774 for Southgate location. |
 Dentistry Made Affordable Warren586-999-8818 Southgate734-999-4774 Clinton Township586-834-8000 HoursMon - Fri: 9:00am - 7:00pm Sat: 9:00am - 4:00pm |
