Emergency Dentist

If you have a dental emergency right now, do two things: use the first-aid steps below to stabilize the situation, then call the office nearest you. The front desk will tell you exactly how soon you can be seen — urgent cases are worked into the schedule as fast as the day allows.

Three of our offices treat dental emergencies: Beachside Dental Group in Huntington Beach at (714) 842-6151, Marina Dentistry in Marina del Rey at (310) 578-5000, and Rio Hondo Dental Group in Downey at (562) 928-5559.

One rule outranks everything else on this page: swelling that affects your breathing or swallowing, bleeding you cannot control, or facial trauma from an accident belongs in a hospital emergency room, not a dental office. Go, or call 911.

What counts as a dental emergency

If it involves severe pain, a knocked-out or badly broken tooth, swelling, or bleeding that will not stop, treat it as an emergency and call. The common ones:

• A knocked-out permanent tooth — the most time-critical emergency in dentistry
• A toothache severe enough to disrupt sleep, eating, or work — often a deep infection or abscess
• Swelling in the gum, face, or jaw, with or without fever
• A cracked, broken, or displaced tooth, especially with pain or a visibly exposed interior
• A lost or broken crown, bridge, or filling with pain or sharp edges
• Bleeding that does not stop with steady pressure

Some problems feel urgent but can wait a day or two with self-care — a chip that doesn't hurt, a lost filling with no sensitivity. When in doubt, call and describe it; the office will tell you honestly whether to come in now or book normally.

What to do right now

Knocked-out tooth

Minutes matter — a permanent tooth reimplanted quickly has a real chance of surviving. Move fast and gently:

1. Find the tooth. Pick it up by the crown (the chewing end), never by the root.
2. If it is dirty, rinse it briefly with milk or water. Do not scrub it, and do not wrap it in tissue.
3. If you can, place it back in its socket right away, facing the right way, and hold it there by biting gently on clean gauze or cloth.
4. If you can't reseat it, keep it moist: in milk, or tucked inside your cheek if you're an adult who won't swallow it. Plain water is a last resort.
5. Call the nearest office immediately and say the words "knocked-out tooth." The first hour matters most.

Baby teeth are different: do not reseat a knocked-out baby tooth — call instead.

Severe toothache

1. Rinse with warm salt water and gently floss around the tooth — trapped food is a surprisingly common culprit.
2. Take an over-the-counter pain reliever as directed. Do not place aspirin against the gum; it burns the tissue.
3. Use a cold compress on the cheek. Avoid heat — it can make an infection's swelling worse.
4. Call and describe the pain: throbbing, temperature-sensitive, worse lying down. The details help the office triage you.

Swelling in the face or jaw

Swelling means infection until proven otherwise, and dental infections do not resolve on their own. Call the same day. Use a cold compress and keep your head elevated. If swelling spreads toward the eye or throat, affects swallowing or breathing, or comes with fever and feeling ill — emergency room, immediately.

Broken or cracked tooth

Rinse your mouth with warm water, save any fragments in milk or water, and use a cold compress for swelling. Cover a sharp edge with dental wax or sugar-free gum to protect your tongue. A small chip with no pain can wait for a normal appointment; pain, temperature sensitivity, or a visible pink or red center means call now.

Bleeding that won't stop

Fold clean gauze over the site and bite down with steady pressure for a full 15–20 minutes — without peeking. Repeat once if needed. If bleeding is still uncontrolled after sustained pressure, that is an emergency room visit.

How fast can you be seen?

Honestly: call and ask. How soon you can be seen depends on the day's schedule, the office, and how urgent your situation sounds — the front desk will give you a straight answer. Urgent cases are prioritized, and describing your symptoms clearly on the phone is the most useful thing you can do to be triaged quickly. What we won't do is promise a same-day appointment on a web page that doesn't know when you're reading it.

Office hours differ by location — check the locations pages, and call even if it's near closing; the front desk can often advise you by phone.

What emergency dental care costs

An emergency visit is billed as an exam plus whatever treatment stabilizes you, so cost depends on the diagnosis — a prescription and a temporary dressing sit at one end, a root canal or extraction at the other. The drivers:

• Whether imaging is needed to find the problem — it usually is
• The treatment that fixes the cause: a filling, root canal therapy, an extraction, recementing a crown
• Whether definitive work (a permanent crown, a replacement for a lost tooth) follows later
• Sedation, if the situation and your anxiety call for it

Stabilizing you comes first. Ask what any treatment beyond the exam will cost before it begins. See financing and membership for how each office handles payment.