Emergency dentist in Waterfall

Do you need a dentist in a hurry? Schedule an urgent appointment with the Family Dental Care Branch in Waterfall. Located at the Linkhills Shopping Centre in Waterfall, this emergency dentist in Durban is available 6 days a week and is open:

• Weekdays – 8:30 – 17:30
• Saturdays – 8:00 – 13:00

Although twice yearly check-ups and a good daily oral routine is enough to maintain a healthy mouth, sometimes an immediate trip to the dentist is required. Issues like a cracked/chipped tooth or a painful toothache that won’t go away can be solved by a quick visit to our emergency dentist in Waterfall.

Possible Causes of a Toothache

CAVITIES

Without regular visits to the dentist, there is a much higher chance of teeth forming cavities. Cavities are holes in a tooth which is caused by tooth decay. Decay is not an overnight issue but rather builds up from plaque that is not removed from the teeth. Daily brushing and flossing does remove majority of plaque from teeth but there are some hard to reach spots in the mouth where not much attention is paid. During the twice yearly visits to our dentist in Waterfall, this can be removed with a professional dental clean. Our dentist also provides fluoride treatments to help prevent cavities from forming on teeth. Without proper dental maintenance, cavities easily form on teeth. The unsightly colour change is just the start. Soon the cavities will lead to tooth sensitivity and eventually unbearable pain. Pain associated with toothache escalates during chewing which then interferes with a person’s normal diet. An appointment with our emergency dentist in Waterfall will then have to be made. A basic cavity that has not yet eaten its way deep into the tooth can be removed and the hole then covered up with a dental filling.

INFECTIONS

Cavities do not only affect the tooth but can also make their way into the pulp of the tooth. This is when an infection occurs. Tooth infections can also be caused by a cracked tooth. Besides being incredibly painful, if left untreated, infections can have permanent repercussions for teeth. When the pulp of the tooth becomes infected it can no longer supply nutrients or sensation to the tooth which will lead to a dead tooth. The tooth will then have to be removed. An infected tooth usually comes with signs such as severe toothache, bad breath, swollen gums, swollen jaws and a high fever. Confirmation however, comes with having an x-ray of the mouth. If the infection has not yet caused any permanent damage then a root canal can be performed by our emergency dentist in Waterfall. A root canal is a last effort to save an infected tooth so the earlier our emergency dentist in Waterfall is seen, the better the chances of saving it. With a root canal, the dentist drills into the root area of a tooth, to where the infection has spread. Any pulp that is already damaged from the infection is removed and any of the remaining infection is cleaned out. The drilled portion is then filled out with a dental filling. Root canals are one of the most feared dental treatments which is why many people put out the thought of visiting a dentist until the very last minute. This rationale is unwise for 2 reasons. Firstly, you would be suffering with tooth pain for a much longer time and secondly you increase the chance of losing your tooth. Our emergency dentist in Waterfall has extensive experience in root canals and numbing techniques, making the procedure painless.

GUM DISEASE

Gums can also get infected and lead to gum disease. There are 2 types

• Gingivitis- plaque is bacteria not cleaned out from teeth. It eventually leads to tartar, which begins infecting gums. Gums infected by tartar get swollen and start bleeding a lot. Tartar can be removed by our emergency dentist in Waterfall and along with a proper home maintenance plan, gingivitis can be reversed.
• Periodontal disease – this is an advanced form of gum disease. It is when the gum infection spreads into the tissue and bone area of teeth. Once these parts become infected they will be unable to provide support for the tooth, leading to the tooth loosening and needing removal.

CRACKED TOOTH

When there is too much pressure put on a tooth from chewing hard foods, the tooth can crack. There are 2 variations of tooth cracks. The first is a crack on the tooth itself and the second is when the crack goes beyond the tooth below the gum line. Nothing can be done for the latter and the only option would be to remove the tooth. The former can be treated with dental fillings or crowns by an emergency dentist in Durban. This needs to be done urgently by our emergency dentist in Waterfall to prevent the crack from spreading further.

Visiting an Emergency Dentist for a Chipped Tooth

Our emergency dentist in Waterfall can be seen for a chipped tooth. There is generally not much pain associated with a front chipped tooth, however you may want to have it restored for aesthetic purposes. Teeth can get chipped during a random fall or by playing sports. They can be taken care of at your leisure but sometimes it may require an urgent trip to see our emergency dentist in Waterfall to have it repaired if for example, there is an important upcoming event to attend. Our emergency dentist in Waterfall can repair a chipped tooth fairly quickly, allowing for you to go about your business as normal within a few hours. A dental filling is used to fill out the chipped area. Our emergency dentist in Waterfall uses the composite type filling. Made out of glass and plastic particles, the composite filling can be mixed to blend in exactly with the colour of the tooth. Once the filling has been shaped and bonded onto the missing part of the tooth, a blue light is used to harden it. When the filling process is complete, the patient will have a normal looking and functional tooth.