Toothache is a pain on the tooth or its surrounding tissues caused by various dental conditions such as:

• Cavities
• Cracked or broken tooth
• Exposed root
• Periodontitis (severe gum inflammation)
• Impacted or erupting wisdom tooth
• Abscess

Cavities

If your toothache comes from a cavity in the tooth, most of the time it means that the decay and bacteria has gone to the nerve and an immediate pain relief would be to have a root canal treatment.

A root canal treatment is done in three stages.  In the case of an emergency, the dentist will provide you with the first stage by removing the infected pulp, this will be followed by two or three visits for subsequent dressings to ensure that the roots are bacteria free.
It is essential that you will complete all three sessions of the treatment or the symptoms will return and you will eventually lose your tooth.  
A root canal treated tooth will become weakened and eventually turn black, and a crown is needed to strengthen and protect the tooth.

Cracked or broken tooth

There are various reasons for a cracked or broken tooth:

• Biting on hard objects such as nuts and shell fish
• Untreated cavities in tooth
• Faulty dental treatments
• Accident

An emergency treatment for the above conditions would be to remove the sharp edges and corners of the broken tooth and provide a temporary filling.   If the nerve is affected, a root canal treatment.
If the fracture line is vertical, in most cases the tooth is not salvageable and will have to be extracted.

Exposed root

This condition is normally caused by the poorly managed gum disease.  The gum is continually irritated by plague and bacteria and eventually recedes, exposing the root of the tooth.

At this time the tooth will be extremely sensitive to hot and cold.  Emergency treatment would be to remove the plague and restore the exposed surface with tooth coloured filling material called composite.

Periodontitis

Periodontitis is an advance state of gum disease and the pain is associated with gums that are severely infected and inflamed.  An emergency treatment would be to remove 

majority of the plague.  Follow up treatments are necessary to completely remove the plague to restore healthy gums.

If your tooth is loose in the case of the final stage of gum disease, an extraction may be necessary.

Impacted or erupting wisdom tooth

This is a condition where your wisdom teeth are not growing in straight, and get stuck. Sometimes wisdom teeth will grow in at a slight angle, and other times wisdom teeth will be completely sideways.  Impacted or erupting wisdom tooth will be associated with symptoms such as swelling of the cheek, severe toothache, and sometimes fever.

Horizontal Impaction

Immediate emergency treatment would be for the dentist to flush the area with saline, take an x-ray to determine the next course of action.  He will also prescribe a course of antibiotics and pain killer

An abscess tooth

A tooth abscess is an infection of the tooth that creates a pus sac near the point of infection. The pus can either be located at the root of the tooth or in the gums surrounding the infected tooth. Our Bondi Dental emergency dentist in Bondi Beach will take x-rays of the infected area to determine which type of abscess you have and create a proper treatment plan.  He may provide you with immediate pain relief by opening the canal and drain the poison and pus from the affected area.  This is the first stage of a root canal treatment, which will have to be followed by subsequent two/three sessions to complete.

If you suffer from any of the above dental conditions, contact Bondi Dental and our experienced dentist will provide you with quick relief of pain and appropriate dental treatments relative to your problems.  At Bondi Dental you can be assured of the finest and top quality dental treatments at all times.

Bondi Dental’s emergency hotline is (02) 9365 3988