Explore MySmileEd
Emergency!
Where to look first when a tooth gets hurt or something urgent happens.
Ask Cozy
What would you like to learn?
TRY ASKING
Browse by topic
Emergency!
This page is about deciding when a dental problem needs urgent help. That guidance is being written and reviewed by a pediatric dentist, and it is not here yet. Until it is, the safe answer is the one in the box above: if you are unsure, contact your dentist, your child’s doctor, or your local emergency services.
Call your dentist or your local emergency number.
This section is waiting for reviewed guidance. Step-by-step advice for the first few minutes is being written by a pediatric dentist and has deliberately not been drafted here. Until it appears, contact your dentist or your local emergency services — they can tell you what to do for your child now.
This section is waiting for reviewed guidance too. Things to avoid are as important as things to do, and both belong with the dentist who is writing them rather than with this website.
Every other page in this section describes a specific situation. This one is meant to help you judge between them — what needs help now, what needs a call today, what can wait for an appointment.
That is the one thing this site will not do without a pediatric dentist writing it. Getting a threshold wrong in either direction causes harm: too cautious and families are frightened into emergency departments unnecessarily; too relaxed and someone waits when they should not have. So rather than offering something approximate, this page says plainly that the guidance is not ready, and points you to a person instead.
If you are unsure how urgent something is, the person to ask is your dentist. A dental practice will normally be able to tell you over the phone how quickly your child needs to be seen, and outside opening hours most have an emergency arrangement. Where a child seems unwell in themselves — rather than having a problem confined to a tooth — your child’s doctor or your local emergency services are the right first call.
The specific situations covered elsewhere in this section are listed below. Each explains what has happened and what a dentist may do, and each will carry reviewed guidance for the moment itself once it is written.
If something in your mouth hurts a lot, or your face is puffy, or you had a bump and something feels wrong, tell a grown-up straight away. They will know who to ring.
I am not sure whether this counts as an emergency. Then ring and ask. Nobody minds the call, and a dental practice can triage over the phone far better than any website can. If your child has facial swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing, uncontrolled bleeding, or seems unwell in themselves, contact your local emergency services rather than waiting for a dental appointment.
Because setting those thresholds is clinical guidance, and this site does not publish clinical guidance that has not been written and reviewed by the pediatric dentist behind it. An approximate answer here would be worse than none. The guidance will appear in the box above once it is ready.
Your dentist, in the first instance — including out of hours, when most practices have an emergency arrangement. If your child seems unwell in themselves rather than having a problem confined to the mouth, contact your child’s doctor or your local emergency services.
Nine specific situations, listed below — injuries to teeth, injuries to the soft tissues of the mouth, swelling and infection. Each explains what has happened and what a dentist may do.
Every clinical statement on this page comes from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry document below. The step-by-step guidance in the sections above is being written separately by a pediatric dentist and is not drawn from this source.
This website is for education only and does not replace care from your dentist, physician, or emergency services.