As soon as your tooth pain became unbearable, you called your nearest emergency room. It’s the natural thing to do when you need medical attention immediately, right? However, more often than not this could end up being a mistake that actually makes it more difficult for you to get the treatment that you urgently need – and during a time when COVID-19 is concern, it could also complicate matters for the emergency room. Read on to learn why it’s better to call an endodontist or emergency dentist in Reno for a severe toothache.
Why Shouldn’t You Call the Emergency Room for a Toothache?
Under the best of circumstances, hospital emergency rooms are very limited in the kind of care they can offer to patients suffering from dental emergencies. The doctors don’t have the tools or training necessary to treat an infection in the tooth that’s causing pain; they may be able to write a prescription for an antibiotic, but this will only provide temporary relief at best.
You could also be making things more difficult for the emergency room itself. Right now, with the COVID-19 situation constantly evolving, hospitals and emergency rooms have to deal with unusually large surges of patients. Consequently, it becomes harder for the doctors to meet the sudden demand, meaning patients have to contend with longer wait times while the staff is overloaded and suffers from shortages of medicine and equipment.
So Why Call an Endodontist Instead?
Obviously, if you need urgent care from someone who has been trained to work with the teeth and gums, an emergency dentist is always a good option. However, if you have a toothache, an endodontist may actually end up being your best bet. Many toothaches are caused by infections of the pulp hidden beneath the tooth’s enamel; the only way to treat such an infection is to remove the bacteria and diseased tissue via a root canal in Reno. Endodontists specialize in root canal therapy and tend to have far more experience performing it. (Your average endodontist completes an 25 root canals a week; normal dentists usually perform around 2.) They have also undergone three years of additional education after dental school, making them extremely knowledgeable about the techniques used for endodontic treatments. As a result, there’s less of a risk of complications occurring later on. Furthermore, endodontists can perform apicoectomies – procedures that stop dental infections that have already spread past the root of the tooth.
You don’t want to leave an infected tooth alone for too long, which is why it’s important that you don’t lose any time getting in touch with an endodontist who can provide the high quality care your smile needs. Make sure you already have the number of an endodontic expert on hand so that you can act immediately as soon as tooth pain strikes.
About the Author
Dr. Tim Adams is Summit Boulevard Dental’s highly trained endodontist. He gained a lot of valuable experience while serving in the army, and today he enjoys being able to use his expertise to help his patients get their oral health back on the right track. If you have a persistent toothache, you can schedule an emergency appointment with Dr. Adams by calling (775) 683-3008; you can also get in touch with him through his website.