A dental emergency may not always come at the perfect time, however there are things we can do to prevent dental emergencies or at least help when they happen.

When you are on a trip, fishing out on the lake, at the amusement park, or on a long car ride, a toothache, or tooth injury is very inconvenient.

Knowing what to do until you can get to the dentist will be helpful in the case that an emergency happens.

    For a temporary relief of a cracked tooth or broken tooth, placing a small amount of gum in the place of the exposed root or nerve may help. Getting to the dentist as soon as you can is important for the life of the tooth.
    In many cases some over the counter pain medication may help. You can use acetaminophen, aspirin, or a numbing agent in a gel form. Also, if there is swelling, you can try an anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen.
    Do not rub aspirin or any other pill form of power on your tooth or gums, this can actually cause more harm than good. This can also cause sores in the mouth due to the acidic affect of the aspirin.
    Canker sores are another form of irritant that can cause an untimely discomfort. Tea tree oil gum can help. This can also come in a mouth wash type. There are mouthwashes with canker sore pain relievers. Preventing the pain is also available by watching the items you eat that can aggravate the sore. This would be like salty, sour or jagged ridged foods.
    For gum problems, you can try a ginseng tonic to relieve the irritated gum issue. Another option is a tea bag that is wet and held against the gum that is sore.
    If you get a toothache because of trapped food it is best to rinse out your mouth with warm water. Doing this may help to move the food from between the teeth.
    If this does not work, you can also try to use a cotton ball soaked in some limejuice.
    Using a little mint tea swished around in your mouth is also a numbing treatment that will work temporarily.
    There is also a possibility that one teaspoon of yarrow in hot water, drain the liquid with a piece of gauze, and then put it on the tooth.
    Rinsing your mouth with warm salt water and dabbing a little clove oil on the tooth may help temporarily. Clove oil has a numbing agent and also an antibacterial property to help.

Which ever option you choose, remember it is only a temporary solution. Regular dental checkups and treatment of cavities, gingivitis, and other tooth or gum issues are imperative to your oral health.

A toothache, or pain anywhere in the mouth or gums, can be associated with inflammation and infection. A toothache will occur due to infection or a cavity being close to the root of the tooth. If the tooth decay has reached the root and has penetrated to the chamber that has the nerves and blood cells, a dentist office visit is a must.

In most cases these issues can be prevented with early detection. This is not to say that those rare incidences of an injury or a broken tooth due to jamming or something of that sort will never happen. Though, it is meaning that you can lower the risk of dental emergencies with good dental upkeep.