Dental pain & problems
How to ease the pain and get the right dental help.
You have a dental problem. Emergency departments cannot carry out dental treatment — a dentist is the right person to fix the cause. Here is how to ease the pain and get the right help while you wait to see one.
Your care details
To be completed by the team before you leave.
A dental infection that spreads can close off the airway.
- Difficulty breathing, swallowing or speaking
- Swelling under the tongue, or the floor of the mouth pushing upwards
- Swelling spreading to your neck, or you cannot open your mouth
- Swelling spreading towards your eye, a painful eye, or sudden eyesight problems
- A high fever with shivering and feeling very unwell
Contact an emergency dentist, NHS 111, or the service named above straight away.
- Facial swelling that is getting bigger, but you can swallow and open your mouth normally
- A fever, or you feel generally unwell
- Bleeding from your mouth that will not stop with 15 minutes of pressure on a gauze pad
- Pain that is not controlled by regular pain relief
- A knocked-out adult tooth — this needs treating within the hour
Adult (permanent) teeth: handle the tooth by the crown, never the root. If it is dirty, rinse it briefly in milk or saline — do not scrub it. Put it straight back into the socket if you can, and bite gently on a clean cloth to hold it. If you cannot, keep it in milk (or the patient's own saliva) and get to a dentist within the hour — the sooner it goes back, the better the chance it survives. Baby (primary) teeth in young children must NOT be put back. Replacing a baby tooth can damage the adult tooth developing underneath. Keep the child calm, control any bleeding with gentle pressure on a clean cloth, and see a dentist. If you are not sure which it is, take the tooth with you and let the dentist decide. Routine dental problems are treated by a dentist, not the ED — call NHS 111 for the out-of-hours dental service.
Easing the pain until you see a dentist
- Take paracetamol or ibuprofen if you can take them — ibuprofen often helps dental pain.
- Hold a cold compress against your face for swelling.
- Avoid very hot, cold or sugary food and drink.
- Keep the area clean and gently rinse with warm salty water.
- For a knocked-out adult tooth, put it back in the socket if you can, or keep it in milk, and see a dentist at once.
Getting dental help
Contact your own dentist first. If you do not have one, or it is out of hours, call NHS 111 — they can direct you to an urgent or emergency dental service. A&E cannot fill, pull or repair teeth, so a dentist is the right person to see.