Emergency Dentist – Northbrook, IL

How We Treat Dental Emergencies

Call our dental office immediately to explain your symptoms; we will schedule a same-day appointment for you and give you instructions for taking care of your tooth at home. Once you arrive at our office, we will complete a comprehensive emergency dental exam. Afterward, we will share our findings with you, explain what the problem is, and outline your treatment options along with the associated costs and expected timeline. Once you’ve agreed to a treatment, our team will move forward with the process of saving your smile.

The Most Common Dental Emergencies

A dental emergency should always be handled by a professional, but what counts as an emergency? If you’re not sure whether your problem requires urgent care, call our office and explain your symptoms to our dental team; we can help you determine whether or not you need an appointment right away. Below are examples of common emergency dental situations and how to deal with them.

Toothaches

Chipped
Tooth

Cracked
Tooth

Sensitivity to
Hot & Cold

Knocked-Out
Tooth

Lost Filling
or Crown

Broken
Denture

Loose
Tooth

Gums, Lip or
Tongue Injury

Jaw Pain or
Clenching

Something Stuck
Between Teeth

Understanding the Cost of Emergency Dentistry

When you’re trying to deal with an emergency, the last thing you want is to stress about finances. For that reason, we do everything that we can to make sure that paying for your services from us is as easy as it can possibly be.

We’ll be sure to give you a full estimate for what your dental care will cost you when we meet in person, but here’s what you should know before we meet about the finances associated with emergency dentistry.

Every Dental Emergency is Different

As you might guess, the cost of the emergency dental exam is fairly low. The bulk of what you’ll pay to deal with your dental emergency will come from the dental treatment itself. What this treatment will entail comes down to the exact circumstances you’re dealing with—you could need a root canal, an extraction, or something else entirely.

We’ll be able to give you a full estimate of what your dental care is going to cost when we have a better idea of what your treatment plan is going to entail.

Taking Care of Your Smile Can Save You Money

Sometimes, dental emergencies are a consequence of unavoidable accidents. In more cases than not, however, they happen due to infection and decay that can be avoided with proper hygiene. If you want to save yourself a lot of money and time, you should make an effort to prevent dental emergencies before they even occur.

If you brush daily, floss often, and see us for regular checkups and cleanings you’ll never have to worry about a dental emergency again.

Does Dental Insurance Cover Dental Emergencies?

Most of the treatments you’ll get to deal with a dental emergency are going to be covered by your insurance. Most insurance plans offer at least one complimentary emergency exam per year and will pay for anywhere between 50-80% of the remaining cost of your treatment.

However, the details will vary based on your dental plan, so it’s important to get in touch with them at your appointment.

Other Options for Making Dental Emergencies Affordable

We know that not everyone has insurance, which is why we do what we can to make our services affordable for everyone who needs them. For one, we have an in-house membership plan that can serve as an alternative to insurance, offering substantial discounts on services you receive from us in exchange for a monthly fee.

We also offer low-interest payment plans for our patients, which can help to break up the cost of expensive treatments into affordable chunks.

If you want to learn more about how you can make the care that you receive affordable, make an appointment with us today!

Keys to Preventing Dental Emergencies

Being proactive about dental care is the key to avoiding many dental emergencies. It is important to brush and floss at least twice a day to protect your teeth and gums from decay and disease; biannual dental cleanings can also make a difference. You can protect your teeth from physical harm by avoiding bad habits like using your teeth as tools to open packages. If you play sports or grind your teeth, investing in a mouthguard can help you avoid serious dental issues in the future.

Root Canal Treatment

When inflammation or infection has reached a tooth’s roots, the only way to save it is with root canal treatment. This procedure involves carefully removing the pulp inside of the tooth before disinfecting the inner canals and placing a filling to seal the space. This process prevents the infection from spreading any further, stops your pain, and allows you to keep your natural tooth. Despite what you may have heard, root canal treatment is typically no more painful than other routine dental procedures, such as getting a filling.

Tooth Extractions

Tooth extraction is never our first choice; we will always check to see if the tooth is still viable and consider ways it can be saved. Unfortunately, sometimes a tooth will simply be too badly broken or decayed to support any kind of restoration, in which case extraction is often the only option remaining. But don’t worry; our practice offers dental bridges, dentures, and dental implants to replace missing teeth, and we’ll be more than happy to help you restore your smile with one of these treatments once your tooth extraction is complete.

Wisdom Tooth Extractions

Have you been experiencing frequent pain near the back of your mouth? It may mean that your wisdom teeth are trying to come in. A wisdom tooth that can fully erupt without disturbing any of the other teeth can be left alone, but if it becomes impacted under your gums or erupts in a way that damages the rest of your smile, it’s recommended that you have it extracted as quickly as possible. If you’re not sure whether your wisdom tooth needs to come out, schedule a consultation with us; we can examine the teeth in question and help you figure out what your next steps should be.