The Winter season allows and excites us for some fun but daring activities that could lead to severe injuries. Professionals have observed a spike in medical emergencies in the winter season because of the snow and ice patches. Sports and fun activities like skiing, ice skating, snowboarding, and ice hockey are undoubtedly exciting and fun, but they sometimes lead to accidents that could leave you in a dental emergency. You can get into all sorts of accidents like sledding into a tree, falling on your face when ice skating, getting hit in the face while playing ice hockey, and so much more could go wrong.

Safeguarding Your Beautiful Smile

Typically, you won’t be thinking about how you can prevent dental emergencies while having wild fun with your friends in the winter season, playing ice hockey, or going out for a mountain hike in the summer. Besides, it is always what you can do before the emergency occurs that counts. Why do you wear safety gear when riding a heavy bike? To protect yourself before the injury happens, right?! Similarly, protecting your smile can be easily done by wearing the right equipment for the sport, such as a mouth guard or a helmet.

Now, let’s talk about the worse situation, you land yourself in an accident. You would want to seek immediate dental treatment to stop the pain, and any type of permanent damage can be prevented. Getting your dental injuries looked at during business hours is quite simple, but what about during a holiday, weekend, or close hours? What if you get into a medical crisis during that time? Then you will have to rush straight into the emergency department to receive the required dental treatments. But before you do that, let’s understand the criteria for the medical situation to qualify as a dental emergency.

What Qualifies as A Dental Emergency?

The main difference between an emergency and a non-emergency is that you can wait before the medical clinics and hospitals open up to get the necessary treatment. If your dental injury is severe and waiting could lead to permanent damage or tooth loss, that would qualify as an emergency. You can ask yourself the following questions to determine it accurately:

• How severe is the bleeding?
• Is the bleeding slowing down or not?
• Is your adult tooth getting dislodged or feeling loose?
• Do you feel your mouth getting numb and feel no pain even after losing your adult tooth permanently?
• Did you severely bite your lips, tongue, or inner cheeks?
• Did you lose your dental veneers or crowns in the accident?
• Does it feel like you have dislocated your jaw and can’t speak properly?
• Do you feel something stuck between your teeth that shouldn’t be?

If you are experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned above, do not hesitate to immediately drive to the nearest medical emergency center and get yourself the dental treatment you require. If you are in Greeley, Colorado, try calling us at Elite Dental Center so that you can receive the best dental services to ease your pain and heal your wounds.

A Non-Dental Emergency

The most accurate way to know that your dental situation isn’t an emergency is by answering a simple question about whether you can wait before getting the dental treatment or not. For example, if you have a chipped tooth that doesn’t hurt much means that you can wait on it till the morning, but a chipped tooth with extreme levels of pain is something that cannot wait and should be treated immediately. There will be times when you might experience a sharp toothache that can safely be waited upon during the dental clinics’ open hours. If, however, the pain comes with swollen gums and cheeks, bumps on the gum tissue, or a fever, then you might want to rush to the emergency department of the dental clinic.

Ensuring Proper Dental Health

People generally have the habit of not compromising a single cost or expense when it comes to things they love, but they end up neglecting the majority of their overall health and well-being. Never ignore your health because it is challenging to recover once it goes away. Do not ignore any dental injuries, conditions, or illnesses because the treatment is extremely easy and quick if cured early in most cases. If you are in doubt about your dental situation, you can always give us a call, and our professional dentists can sort things out for you.

An excellent way to ensure your oral health is by not missing your dental appointment every six months and taking good care of your dental sealants. And if you decide to partake in the fun, exciting, but dangerous sports activities, be sure to wear the appropriate gear to protect your teeth, tongue, mouth, and jaw from severe injuries. Remember, it is always easier to prevent an injury than to recover from it, not to mention the medical expenses. Always take the best care of your dental health because your teeth are the reason behind your beautiful smile.