Request an Appointment Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Instagram FormsOnline Give us a Call View our Map
Free 2nd Opinions We Welcome Insurance Accepting New Patients
200 High St Clinton, MA 01510 (978) 612-6222
Request an Appointment
Our Commitment to Your Safety

Emergency Pediatric Dentist – Clinton, MA

Quickly Assisting Your Child’s Compromised Smile

No one can anticipate a dental emergency—these scenarios have a knack for occurring not just when you least expect them to, but also when it’s seemingly the least convenient. But when it happens to your child, things can really seem scary. That’s why here at Simply Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics, we pride ourselves on being able to quickly address all types of pediatric dental emergencies in the Clinton, MA area and get your child back to looking and feeling like their best self. If your little one is dealing with a painful oral situation, don’t hesitate to contact us right away!

Why Choose Simply Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics for Children’s Emergency Dental Care?

  • Same-Day Emergency Appointments Available
  • Friendly & Experienced Dental Team
  • Sedation Options Available for Optimal Comfort

What To Do During a Dental Emergency

a child experiencing oral pain

If your child is experiencing a dental emergency, perhaps the best thing you can do is stay calm; keeping a cool composure will encourage your little one to do the same! It’s also advisable to promptly follow these three steps:

  1. Call Our Office – You shouldn’t leave anything to chance concerning your little one’s smile; don’t hesitate to call our office when your child has suffered a dental emergency. We’ll let you know when (and if) they need to come in, and we’ll also provide you with steps to take before your appointment (such as utilizing saltwater rinses, cold compresses, or over-the-counter pain relievers).
  2. Schedule & Attend Your Visit – Our team is second to none when it comes to handling pediatric dental emergencies, so be sure that once your visit has been scheduled, you show up! After examining your child’s mouth, we can begin addressing the issue.
  3. Get Your Child the Help They Need – Once we’ve had the chance to determine what’s wrong and prescribe appropriate treatment, you can rest assured that your little one’s smile won’t be hurting any longer and that their pearly whites aren’t in any long-term jeopardy.

The Most Common Pediatric Dental Emergencies

No two emergencies are the same—and when it comes to pediatric dental emergencies, there’s quite a bit of variance. Sometimes the problem is obvious and even painful, such as a chipped, cracked, or displaced tooth. Other times, it might be clear that something is wrong, but you might not be sure what exactly is going on. Regardless of what you think might be going on, we strongly encourage you to give us a call in these instances so that you’re not leaving anything up to chance. Below are a few examples of some common pediatric dental emergencies and how we’re able to provide assistance:

Understanding the Cost of Pediatric Dental Emergencies

a child being treated by their emergency pediatric dentist

The bottom line is that there’s no universal standard cost for receiving emergency pediatric dental care—the price you pay is always going to depend on the nature/severity of your child’s situation. However, upon examining your child’s smile (via a relatively inexpensive and noninvasive emergency exam), we’ll be able to provide you with an accurate cost estimate. We’re also happy to work with you to ensure that you’re taking full advantage of your dental insurance benefits, if applicable.

How to Prevent Pediatric Dental Emergencies

Child with pigtails smiling while giving pediatric dentist high-five

Even though you can always count on our pediatric dental team in Clinton to step in and assist your child with any type of dental emergency they might be experiencing, the best thing you can do for your little one is to help them avoid these situations entirely! Although accidents can happen, a few simple precautions coupled with good habits can go quite a long way. That’s why we recommend the following:

Schedule a Checkup and Cleaning Every Six Months

Pediatric dentist placing bib over smiling child in treatment chair

Routine visits to our pediatric dental office in Clinton are essential for your child’s oral health. Plus, these appointments help prevent serious smile-related injuries too! For example, we can catch tooth decay in the early stages during their biannual exams – long before it results in a painful toothache that warrants a same-day visit to our office for treatment.

Encourage Your Child to Brush and Floss Regularly

Young girl looking at camera while eating lunch at school

Of course, keeping your child’s teeth and gums healthy also requires a consistent oral hygiene regimen, starting with brushing each morning and evening. When they are young, their fine motor skills are still developing, so be sure to help them if they require assistance! It’s also imperative that you use the right oral hygiene tools, like a child-sized toothbrush.

Help Your Child Maintain a Healthy Diet

Closeup of child wearing blue mouthguard

Maintaining a healthy diet benefits your child’s oral and overall health! So, make sure to fill their plates and lunchboxes with plenty of healthy fruits and veggies. It’s also important to encourage them to drink water throughout the day. This will keep them hydrated and rinse away food particles from their teeth. Lastly, do your best to keep their consumption of added sugar to a minimum.

Make Sure They Wear a Mouthguard During Sports

Closeup of child sucking their thumb

You wouldn’t let your child play football without a helmet, right? For the same reason, they shouldn’t participate in sports without a mouthguard. In fact, children who participate in non-contact sports, like skateboarding, are also encouraged to wear one to protect their teeth and gums in case they accidentally fall.

Redirect Unhealthy Habits

Closeup of child sucking their thumb

Does your child suck their thumb? Do they bite their nails? Do they chew on the back of their pencil or pen? These are all unhealthy habits that can chip, crack, or fracture their teeth. If your child is old enough, simply explaining the risks may be enough to discourage these behaviors. If they are still quite young, then redirecting them to a different activity may be easier. 

Toothache

Is My Child's Toothache a Dental Emergency? Toothaches are often the result of an untreated dental issue, like a cavity, which is why we encourage you to call our emergency dentist in Clinton right away. Over the phone, we can help you determine if your child needs to come in for same-day treatment or if they can wait a day or two for an appointment.

How You Should Handle Your Child's Toothache Fortunately, there are a few ways you can help ease your child’s discomfort, including giving them soft foods instead of pretzels, tortilla chips, and other crunchy foods. You can also give them a cold compress, which they can place against the outside of their cheek to temporarily numb the area and alleviate swelling. If all else fails, you can also give them a children’s OTC pain reliever to keep them comfortable until they visit our pediatric dentist.

How We Treat Toothaches in Children When your child arrives at our office, we will ask them a few questions to learn more about their symptoms. Then, we will conduct an oral exam and take X-rays. With all of this information, we will be able to determine what’s causing their toothache. Oftentimes, it’s an untreated cavity, which we may be able to treat with a tooth-colored filling or dental crown.

  LEARN MORE ABOUT TOOTH-COLORED FILLINGS

Cracked Tooth

Is My Child's Cracked Tooth a Dental Emergency? Yes, your child’s cracked tooth is a dental emergency! The now compromised tooth can split further and develop an infection, both of which can wreak havoc on their oral health.

Important note: it’s not always easy to spot a cracked tooth, so keep an eye out for common symptoms, like pain when biting down.

How You Should Handle Your Child's Cracked Tooth After calling our Clinton pediatric dental office and scheduling an appointment, have your child rinse with clean water to remove bacteria from their mouth. If they are hungry between now and their visit, make sure they don’t chew on that side of their mouth. If your child is in pain or scared, then do your best to help keep them calm and give them an OTC pain reliever as instructed until they arrive for treatment.

How We Treat Children's Cracked Teeth The treatment we recommend will depend on how severe the crack is. In most cases, we can restore your child’s damaged tooth with a dental crown. Since these restorations now come in a wide range of lifelike shades, we can treat your child’s tooth without calling attention to it – their dental crown will blend in seamlessly with the rest of their smile!

Chipped Tooth

Is My Child's Chipped Tooth a Dental Emergency? Did your child chip a tooth during a sports accident or when biting into something crunchy? Then you should absolutely call our Clinton dental team right away.

How You Should Handle Your Child's Chipped Tooth After assessing the damage and scheduling an appointment with us, have your child rinse their mouth with clean water. Then, use some dental wax or a piece of sugar-free gum to cover the tooth. This will ensure the soft tissue in their mouth is protected from injury until we treat the tooth.

How We Treat Children's Chipped Teeth Of course, multiple factors need to be considered when deciding how to treat your child’s tooth, from the location of the tooth to the size of the chip. With that being said, this dental injury can most often be treated with cosmetic dental bonding – a quick and

Knocked-Out Permanent Tooth  

Is A Knocked-Out Permanent Tooth a Dental Emergency? Yes, it is! For our Clinton pediatric dentist to have the highest chance of saving your child’s tooth, you must bring them to our office within 60 minutes of the incident. That’s why we encourage parents to call us ASAP. We’ll start preparing for your child’s appointment right away and provide you with helpful tips on what to do until you arrive.

How You Should Handle a Knocked-Out Permanent Tooth It’s of the utmost importance that you handle the knocked-out tooth with extreme caution. After helping your child calm down and reminding them that you’re going to get them the help they need, pick up the tooth by the crown, rinse it off carefully with water, and place it back in the socket (if it slides back in without force). To preserve the root, you can also submerge the tooth in a container filled with milk.

How We Treat Knocked-Out Permanent Teeth Our goal first and foremost is always to save your child’s natural teeth. If the knocked-out tooth is in good condition and your child arrives for treatment within 60 minutes, there’s a good chance we can! If we can’t, don’t worry – we can use a dental bridge, space maintainer, or dental implant to prevent the look and function of their smile from being negatively impacted.

Knocked-Out Baby Tooth  

Is a Knocked-Out Baby Tooth a Dental Emergency? Although your child’s baby teeth are supposed to fall out, it can pose a problem if they fall out too soon. If one of their teeth falls out prematurely, then you should call our Clinton dental team as soon as you can. That way, we can make sure their surrounding teeth (as well as their underlying permanent tooth) are okay.

How You Should Handle a Knocked-Out Baby Tooth Unlike knocked-out permanent teeth, we don’t recommend placing your child’s baby tooth back in its socket. Instead, have your child gently rinse their mouth with water before managing any bleeding with a damp washcloth or tissue. From there, we recommend using a cold compress to minimize swelling, having your child stick to soft foods, and, if necessary, giving them a children’s OTC pain reliever.

How We Treat Knocked-Out Baby Teeth To determine the answer, we need to first evaluate the damage. In some cases, all that’s needed are some light repairs to the surrounding teeth. In other cases, we will need to use a space maintainer to prevent their surrounding teeth from moving out of position, negatively impacting your child’s bite in the process.

Bitten Tongue, Lip, or Cheek  

Is a Bitten Tongue, Lip, or Cheek an Emergency? Although soft tissue injuries can produce a lot of blood, they don’t usually require same-day treatment from our Clinton pediatric dentist. With that said, we do recommend taking your child to the ER if the cut continues to bleed after 10 minutes of applying pressure.

How You Should Handle Your Child's Soft Tissue Injury In most cases, these dental injuries can be handled at home with two easy steps: rinsing the cut thoroughly with lukewarm water and applying pressure to it with a damp washcloth. Once the bleeding has stopped, then you can give your child a cold compress, which will alleviate uncomfortable swelling and prevent them from hurting the same spot again.

How We Treat Soft Tissue Injuries in Children As a parent, it’s important to trust your instincts. If you are concerned about your child’s injury, then you’re more than welcome to give us a call so we can answer any questions you have and provide you with our recommendations on what to do next.

Dental Concussion

Sensitive Teeth

Lost Filling or Crown

Something Stuck Between the Teeth