When you’re traveling away from home, the last thing you want to be confronted with is toothache or a dental trauma. Having a dental emergency whilst you’re away from home may leave you wondering when you should contact a dentist and how you’re going to find one whilst you’re traveling.Six of my best tips on how to take care of your teeth problems while traveling to protect your smile.Here you will find best teeth tips.
If you’re traveling in the U.S. you should be able to find a dentist open on Sunday or one that is available for emergencies even if you aren’t a regular patient. However, if you are a little further afield, there are a number of things you can do to save your smile while traveling.
Teeth Problems While Traveling: Strategies that Could Save Your Smile
Prevention is the Best Cure
When traveling abroad, especially for quite some time, it’s a good idea to get a dental checkup before you go. This will enable your dentist to identify if there are any potential issues that need resolving before you embark on your journey and will help to make sure these don’t become a problem while you’re away. For example, if you have gum disease it’s a good idea to get your teeth cleaned if you’re traveling somewhere where dental care is limited. Or, if you’ve got a root canal hat needs doing, make sure this is done before you go away as air pressure changes while flying could cause you pain.
What To Do If You Develop Toothache
If you do start to develop toothache on your holidays, start by rinsing your mouth out with warm water before using dental floss to clean between your teeth. This will help to dislodge any debris that may be trapped between your teeth or gums. If this doesn’t solve the problem, you should contact an emergency dentist or make sure you visit your dentist as soon as you get home.
What To Do If You Crack, Break or Knock Out a Tooth
If you chip or crack your tooth or it breaks, you should seek emergency attention. If there isn’t an emergency dentist for you to visit, you should go to an emergency room at a hospital. Collect all of the bits of broken tooth together, use warm water to rinse your mouth out and use a cold compress on your face to keep the swelling down.
Should you knock your tooth out, you shouldn’t clean or scrub it and you should only hold it by the crown, not the root. It’s ideal if you can place it back into its socket until you can see a dentist but if you can’t you’ll need to place it in a milk or salt water to keep it moist. Medical attention should be sought within an hour of the trauma happening in order to give you the best chances of saving your tooth. A cold compress will also help to keep the swelling down whilst you are waiting.
What To Do If You Lose a Crown or Filling
Over-the-counter dental cement is ideal for placing in the cavity caused by a lost filling; or, if you can’t find any of this, chewed sugarless gum is a perfect substitute. If you lose a crown, place it back over the tooth and use dental cement to secure it in place (denture adhesive or toothpaste may also do the trick). Try to find an emergency dentist to take care of this for you but if you can’t, get in touch with your regular dentist as soon as you can when you get home.
What To Do If You Break Your Denture
Natural teeth aren’t the only cause of dental problems whilst traveling abroad as dentures can also give you some aggravation. If you find that your dentures don’t fit you or you break them, you shouldn’t try to repair these and should instead seek the help of a local dentist who can perform the repair for you. You should also make sure that you see your own dentist as soon as you can when you get home. Painful sours or irritations that are caused by your dentures whilst you’re away will mean that you need to stick to soft foods or take them out until you can get them sorted.
Finding a Dentist Abroad
Most countries will provide good dental care so you should be able to find an emergency dentist that will be able to help you if you do suffer from any problems whilst you’re away. For example, those dentists listed on the American Dental Society of Europe are recognized at having completed their studies at a U.S. or Canada dental school.
Mike Plambeck is a dental marketing professional who writes about the world of online dental marketing as well as educational dental health topics. He lives in Lincoln, NE and raises 2 kids, Noah and Dani, along with his wife Marissa.
