Traveling? Here’s What to Know if You Have a Dental Emergency

While we hope all of your travels are filled with fun and adventure, unfortunately accidents can happen. Being sidelined with a painful dental emergency while traveling can be scary, especially when you’re in an unfamiliar setting.

 

Before you pack up on your next trip, review some of our tips below so you are can feel prepared in the event of a dental emergency.

 

Plan ahead

No one plans to chip a tooth or lose a crown on vacation, but it happens. Maintaining regular dental check-ups, particularly if you’re traveling to developing countries, is good preventative medicine. Your dentist can assess if there are problem areas and take care of any treatments before you leave. Keep your dental insurance card with you, too.

 

Being mindful of what you’re eating while traveling (or anytime) is also important for prevention purposes. For example, chewing ice or hard candies can be especially hard on teeth.

 

Broken or Cracked Tooth

Rinse your mouth with warm water to clean the area, and apply a cold compress to control any swelling. Then, seek a dentist or emergency room immediately.

 

Lost crown or filling

Over-the-counter dental cement can be used to temporarily secure your crown or fill a missing filling.

 

Knocked out tooth

Hold the tooth by the crown and rinse it in saline, but do not scrub it or remove any attached tissue fragments. If you’re able to put the tooth back in its socket, keep it there until you’re able to seek emergency dental care. If it doesn’t fit in the socket, put the tooth in milk and try to reach emergency care as soon as possible in order to improve the odds of your tooth surviving.

 

Before your next vacation, schedule a visit to make sure things are looking good, so you can spend more time flashing smiles in front of the camera and less time fighting unwanted tooth pain.

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