Emergency Dentist in Waterloo

When Should I Seek Emergency Dental Care?

You have been hurt in an accident and need immediate dental care. (An example is a knocked out or broken tooth).

• You are experiencing unexpected pain and need treatment faster than is possible through the traditional dental appointment process. (An example is painful tooth that may need a root canal, or a possibly infected abscess).
• Some aspects of your current dental treatment plan have gone awry (for example, you have lost a crown).

If you have any doubts or concerns about your situation and need to clarify whether yours is an emergency dental situation, do not hesitate to contact us for more information. We will be able to let you know if your particular dental situation requires emergency dental care.

Call (519) 883-0505

When a tooth cracks, swells or starts throbbing, you want an emergency dentist in Waterloo who will answer the phone and find you a time. That’s why Waterloo Dental Centre keeps room for urgent problems at our office at 258 King St N in uptown Waterloo. We take walk-ins, and you don’t need to be one of our regular patients to be seen. Call 519-883-0505 and tell us what’s going on.

What we treat as a dental emergency

Some problems can’t wait for the next open checkup. If any of these sound familiar, call us the same day:

• A toothache that wakes you up, throbs when you lie down, or doesn’t ease with pain relievers from the pharmacy
• Swelling in the gum, cheek or jaw, or a pimple-like bump on the gum that may be an abscess
• An adult tooth that has been knocked out, pushed out of line or loosened in a fall
• A tooth that has chipped, cracked or snapped, especially if it’s sharp or sensitive to air
• A filling that has fallen out or a crown that has come off
• Bleeding from the gums or from a socket that won’t settle
• A broken denture or partial, or a braces wire poking into your cheek
• Something stuck between your teeth or under the gum that you can’t get out

Not sure if yours counts? Call anyway. A cracked tooth that’s only a little sensitive today can split further, and a mild ache can turn into an infection. If it turns out the problem can wait a little, a same day dental appointment for routine care may suit you better.

First aid for the trickier emergencies

The tips above cover toothaches, broken teeth, lost fillings and small cuts. These are the situations people most often ask us about on the phone.

In pain right now? Call us at 519-883-0505 and tell us what happened. We’ll tell you what to do until you get here.

A knocked out adult tooth

Time matters most here. Hold the tooth by the crown, the part you normally see, and don’t touch the root. If it’s dirty, give it a quick rinse in milk. Don’t scrub it or wrap it in tissue. If you can, push it gently back into the socket and bite on a folded cloth to hold it in place. If that isn’t possible, put it in a small container of milk, or keep it inside your cheek if you’re an adult and won’t swallow it. Then call us and come straight in. A tooth that’s seen within the hour has the best chance of reattaching.

Swelling or a suspected abscess

Hold a cold compress on the outside of your cheek for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Rinse with warm salt water a few times a day. Don’t put heat on a swollen face, and don’t try to pop a bump on the gum. Swelling usually means infection, and infection needs a dentist to find the source. If the swelling is spreading quickly, read the hospital section further down.

Pain relief, and one thing not to do

A regular over the counter pain reliever, swallowed as the package directs, can help while you wait. Never hold an aspirin or any other tablet against the gum next to the sore tooth. It doesn’t work faster, and it can leave a painful chemical burn on the gum.

Braces wires, dentures and bleeding sockets

A loose braces wire can be pushed flat with the eraser end of a pencil, or covered with a bit of orthodontic wax. If a denture breaks, keep every piece for our broken tooth and denture repair visit and don’t try to glue it yourself, since household glue can damage the material and irritate your gums. For bleeding after an extraction, fold clean gauze or a damp tea bag, place it over the socket and bite firmly for 20 to 30 minutes without peeking. If it’s still bleeding steadily after that, call us.

What happens when you come in

On a walk-in or same-day visit, the first job is finding out why it hurts. Here’s how it usually goes:

1. You fill in a short health form at the front desk. A list of any medications you take helps.
2. The dentist looks at the problem area and asks when it started and what makes it worse.
3. If needed, we take dental X-rays to see the root, the bone and anything hidden between teeth.
4. We explain what we found and your options, and we go over the fees before any treatment begins.
5. We treat what we can that day, whether that’s easing pain, dealing with an infection, placing a temporary filling, recementing a crown or stitching a cut inside the mouth.

Some fixes are finished in one visit. Others, like an emergency root canal or a new crown, may start with an emergency appointment that gets you comfortable and continue at a booked visit later. If dental work makes you anxious, tell us. We’ll go at your pace and explain each step.

Insurance, direct billing and CDCP

Waterloo Dental Centre bills most dental insurance plans directly, so bring your insurance card or plan details and we’ll send the claim for you. Coverage for emergency treatment varies between plans. We explain the fees before treatment starts, and you can ask us for an estimate to send to your insurer first. For anything your plan doesn’t cover, we accept credit cards and cash.

CDCP patients are welcome too. Our Canadian Dental Care Plan page explains how it works at our office. Program rules can change, so check the current details on canada.ca. If you’re a student on a university or college health plan, our dental care for students page has more on that.

When your child has a dental emergency

Kids fall off bikes, trip on the playground and catch the odd hockey stick to the mouth. We see children as well as adults, so call us if your child hurts a tooth. A few things are different from adult emergencies:

• Don’t put a knocked out baby tooth back in. It can harm the adult tooth growing underneath. Keep it in milk and bring it along so we can check the area.
• A knocked out adult tooth in a child (the front adult teeth usually come in around age 6 or 7) is treated just like an adult’s: back in the socket or into milk, and come in right away.
• A chipped tooth with a pink or red spot in the middle may mean the nerve is exposed. That needs to be seen the same day.
• Check the lips, tongue and inside of the cheeks for cuts, and press gently with clean gauze to stop any bleeding.

When to go to the hospital instead

A dental office isn’t the right place for every injury. Go to the nearest hospital emergency department, or call 911, if you have:

• Swelling that is spreading toward your eye, down your neck or under your jaw
• Trouble breathing or swallowing
• Bleeding that won’t stop after 20 minutes of firm pressure
• A possible broken jaw, or a jaw that won’t open or close properly after a fall, car accident or sports hit
• A head injury along with the dental injury, or a high fever with facial swelling

Once the hospital has handled the urgent part, call us to follow up on the teeth themselves.

Finding our uptown Waterloo office

We’re at 258 King St N, Unit 7, in uptown Waterloo. That’s a short trip for students at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, and for Conestoga College students living nearby. We’re also close enough for people in Kitchener who need a dentist quickly and can’t get in with their own.

If you’d rather not call, you can text the office at (519) 904-4431 with your name and what happened. For severe pain or swelling, a phone call is faster.

Emergency dental FAQ

Do I have to be a patient here to be seen?

No. We see new patients for emergencies, including people visiting the city and students who are far from their family dentist. Walk in or call ahead.

Will you pull the tooth?

Only if it can’t be saved or you decide that’s the option you want. Often a root canal, a filling or a crown can keep the tooth. We’ll explain each choice and its fees before anything is done, so you can decide.

Can a toothache go away on its own?

Sometimes the pain fades, but the cause usually doesn’t. A nerve that stops hurting may have died, and an infection can keep spreading quietly. Have it checked even if the pain eases.

Will the dentist give me antibiotics?

Only if you need them. Antibiotics can help control a spreading infection, but they don’t fix the tooth that caused it, so the tooth still needs treatment. Our article on antibiotics for dental infections explains when they’re used.

What should I bring?

Your insurance card or plan details, a list of your medications, and anything that broke off: a tooth, a piece of tooth, a crown or the pieces of a denture.

Call or book today

The sooner a dental problem is looked at, the more options you usually have. Call Waterloo Dental Centre at 519-883-0505, or walk in to our office on King St N in uptown Waterloo, and we’ll do our best to see you the same day. You can also reach us through our contact and booking page.