Levittown Emergency Pediatric Dentistry

My Town's Little Dentist provides pediatric dental emergency services in Levittown, NY. Our highly skilled team is ready to meet any pediatric dental challenge.  In addition to treating minor dental emergencies, our specialists have extra training to handle pediatric traumas. Call 516-226-7337 to make an appointment.

Dental emergencies can happen to anyone, at any time. When it happens to your child, it can be terrifying. During office hours, call and we will see your child as quickly as possible, often the same day. After hours, please call our office immediately to speak to the on-call dentist and receive instructions. If the emergency is severe or life-threatening, please call 911 or head for the closest emergency room.

Common dental emergencies include, but are not limited to:

• Bleeding After Losing Baby Tooth
• Broken Jaw
• Broken Tooth
• Cold or Canker Sore
• Cut or Bitten Tongue, Lip, or Cheek
• Knocked Out Tooth
• Tooth Ache

While all dental emergencies should be taken seriously, some are safe to handle at home, at least initially. Here’s what to do:

Toothache and swelling/abscess: Gently rinse the mouth with warm water and floss to remove any food particles or debris that may be trapped in the tissues surrounding the tooth. Call our office to schedule an appointment or speak to our on-call doctor. If the pain becomes intolerable or severe swelling is present, visit the nearest emergency room. Dental infections can be serious so it is important to get the area looked at and treated quickly.

Cut soft tissue: If the lip, cheek, tongue, or gums get cut, wrap a baggie of ice in a clean cloth and apply to the mouth to reduce swelling. Use direct pressure from a clean cloth or sterile gauze pad to stop bleeding. If you are unable to stop the bleeding, call your doctor or visit the closest emergency room. Call our office to speak to the doctor on-call or set an emergency appointment.

Knocked out tooth: Call our office immediately, and then rinse the tooth in clean water, taking care not to touch the root. If possible, place the tooth back into the socket and have your child bite down on gauze to hold it in place. Never re-implant a baby tooth. If this can’t be done safely, submerge the tooth in a glass of milk. Reattachment is most successful if performed within 30 minutes of the injury.

Chipped or broken tooth: Use lukewarm water to gently rinse the mouth, and place a cold compress or ice pack on the face to minimize swelling. If you can find the piece that broke off, submerge it in milk and bring it to our office.

Dental emergencies can be frightening, but they can be successfully managed with professional assistance. Stay calm, assess the situation, provide first aid, and give us a call. Also focus on keeping your child calm, as panic can make it more difficult to administer treatment.

If you are in the Levittown area and your child has a dental emergency, we invite you to call our office at 516-226-7337 for immediate assistance.

A broken baby tooth may or may not be a dental emergency, depending on the circumstances. If the tooth is merely chipped, emergency treatment is not usually needed. If, on the other hand, your child is experiencing pain, most of the tooth has broken off, or the remaining tooth structure is jagged and sharp, call our office to make an emergency dental appointment for your child.

If your child allows you to push the tooth back into the socket after it’s been knocked out, that gives us the best possible chance to reattach it. Otherwise, the clock starts ticking as soon as the tooth comes out—when placed in a small cup of milk or saliva, about an hour can pass and we’ll still have a good chance at being able to successfully reinsert the tooth. After an hour, the likelihood of successful reattachment begins to decrease.

If your child traumatically loses a baby tooth you should follow up at the office but often treatment is not needed. Control the bleeding and comfort your child but there is no need to bring the tooth to the office. Often the dentist will take an x-ray to determine if a piece of the root is left.  Usually pain medicine appropriate for the child's age and size and a safer diet can make a child feel better

Because children have different thresholds for pain, it can be hard to determine when they have a dental emergency and when treatment can wait. For a toothache, if the pain seems to come and go or is only triggered by eating hot, cold, or sweet foods, we’ll want to see your child soon, but a same-day appointment is not usually necessary. If they describe a constant, throbbing pain, have trouble eating and sleeping, and seem to be in distress, it’s possible that they have an infected tooth. In these cases, emergency care is needed.

No, our emergency dental appointments do not cost more. We never add extra fees or surcharges when your child needs us most!

If your child has a dental abscess, urgent treatment is required. This is because a dental abscess is a sign of an infected tooth. This infection can spread easily to surrounding soft tissues, the jawbone, and even other parts of the body. It’s important to get prompt treatment because this type of infection can cause serious complications.