What counts as a dental emergency
If you are unsure, ring us. It costs nothing to ask, and the things people most often wait on are usually the ones that get worse fastest.
- Severe or persistent toothache, especially if it is keeping you awake
- Swelling of the gum, face or jaw
- A knocked-out tooth - treat this as urgent, see below
- A broken, cracked or badly chipped tooth
- A lost filling or crown, particularly if the tooth is now sharp or sensitive
- Bleeding that will not stop
- Pain after a recent extraction or dental treatment
- An injury to the mouth from a fall, sport or an accident
Go to a hospital, not a dentist, if
Some situations need a hospital emergency department rather than a dental chair: swelling that is closing your eye, spreading down your neck, or making it hard to swallow or breathe; a suspected broken jaw; or uncontrolled bleeding after trauma. If breathing or swallowing is affected, call 111.
If a tooth has been knocked out
For an adult tooth, the first hour matters more than anything else you can do.
- Pick the tooth up by the crown - the white part - never the root.
- If it is dirty, rinse it briefly in milk or saline. Do not scrub it and do not use tap water.
- If you can, put it straight back into the socket and hold it there by biting gently on a clean cloth.
- If you cannot, keep it in milk. Saliva will do at a pinch. Never let it dry out.
- Ring us immediately and come in.
- For a child's baby tooth, do not attempt to reinsert it - but still ring us so we can check nothing else was damaged.
Managing pain until you get here
Ordinary over-the-counter pain relief taken as directed on the packet is the practical first step. A cold compress against the outside of the cheek helps with swelling.
Two things worth avoiding: do not hold aspirin against the gum - it burns the tissue - and do not rely on painkillers to make the problem go away. Pain that settles on its own is not the same as an infection resolving, and toothache that stops abruptly can mean the nerve has died rather than that things have improved.
Visiting Queenstown with tooth pain?
A good share of our emergency patients are visitors - off the mountain, off a bike, or simply unlucky a long way from their own dentist. We are used to it, we see people the same day wherever we can, and we will deal with the immediate problem and give you something that holds until you get home.
If the damage was caused by an accident, ACC may cover part of the cost, including for many visitors to New Zealand. We lodge the claim for you.
Weekends
We are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Outside those hours we run an on-call emergency service by request - ring 03 441 8248 and follow the instructions on the message.
