Important Tips for Avoiding Dental Emergencies

Sometimes in life, accidents happen. But while some are totally random, some can be easily prevented when you take the proper precautions. For example, you can reduce your home’s risk of frozen pipes if you drip your faucets during freezing temperatures or lower your risk of getting a sunburn if you wear sunblock. The same holds true for dental emergencies. While you can’t always prevent everything that could go wrong with your mouth, there are still many measures you can take to lower your risks of injury.

Here are some must-know tips to give your smile the best protection against dangerous accidents!

Practice Proper Oral Hygiene

One of the easiest ways to safeguard your smile is to brush and floss your teeth regularly. This will help defend your mouth against tooth decay, gum disease, and more, reducing your risk of having a surprise cavity or infection.

Don’t Skip Your Checkups

Following your dental checkup schedule is an important step in preventing dental emergencies. In conjunction with proper oral hygiene, your dentist can closely monitor changes in your mouth, helping you prevent any surprises like cavities and gingivitis. Getting regular X-rays can also help keep tabs on the health of your fillings or crowns so they can be replaced before they fall out or become otherwise compromised.

Use Teeth Appropriately

Your teeth weren’t meant to open packages, chew pens, crunch ice, or bite fingernails. When you use them for something other than chewing, you run the risk of accidentally chipping or cracking them, so make sure you’re only using them for food.

Keep Your Guard Up

Sports like hockey, skating, and football are all great ways to strengthen your body, but they can also be dangerous for your teeth. Getting hit in the mouth with a ball or stick, falling on the ground, or taking an accidental elbow can easily damage or knock out a tooth, so if you do participate in this type of sport, be sure to wear a custom mouthguard while you play!

Watch What You Eat

While most natural teeth can handle the pressure of crunching fresh vegetables, nuts, and hard foods like pretzels and crackers, in some instances these foods should be avoided. If you wear braces, there are a few foods you should skip to prevent your brackets from coming loose, like crunchy or sticky foods like taffy, caramels, or gummies.

While you may not always be able to prevent dental emergencies, following these tips can go a long way towards helping you protect your teeth and maintain your beautiful smile.

About Dr. Crowley

Dr. Patrick Crowley and the team at Bluff Creek Dental love to see you smile! That’s why Dr. Crowley places such a heavy emphasis on continuing his education. Dr. Crowley maintains active memberships in the Oklahoma Dental Association, the American Dental Association, and the Academy of General Dentistry.

From learning the latest in technology to improving his techniques, Dr. Crowley and the team want to help you keep your mouth healthy and accident free.

To schedule an appointment, please visit our website, or call us at 405-510-0528.