Our priority at Dr. James C. Ross is your health and happiness, even between your visits to our Novi dental practice. That’s why we make room in our schedule each day to accommodate emergency appointments should you suffer an unexpected problem with your teeth.

And we handle same-day appointments more often than you might think because dental emergencies aren’t always the result of high-risk behavior. You don’t have to be rollerblading down a steep, windy path in the park to injure or knock out a tooth. They can happen while you’re simply going about your normal day!

Here are a couple of examples of common urgent dental problems we see this time of year:

You Just Wanted To Go For A Walk!

You’ve been trying to take advantage of the nice weather, so instead of the treadmill or workout video on your preferred health app, you go outside for a walk.

Your headphones are on, and you’re listening to your favorite podcast. And you’re using the sidewalk, so it’s not like you’re asking for trouble. Yet, trouble finds you anyway when you trip over a tiny space of uneven concrete. You managed to avoid breaking any bones, but your chin hit the sidewalk hard enough to knock out a tooth.

The best thing to do is pick up the tooth by the crown, get back to the house to gently rinse it off, and store it either inside your cheek or a sealed container of milk until you see the dentist. Once you’ve controlled any bleeding, give us a call right away so we can see you as soon as possible. We will try to save your tooth, but if that’s not an option, we’ll offer the best restorative treatment to fill the empty space and ensure your oral health.

All You Did Was Take A Bite!

One of the greatest pleasures of this season is firing up the grill.

There’s always someone in the neighborhood on any given day grilling burgers or barbecue ribs, and the breeze carries that great smoky aroma all the way down the street.

You’re not being some sort of daredevil, putting yourself at unnecessary risk for a dental injury. It’s not like you were jumping out of an airplane. You were just enjoying dinner out on the patio, chomping down on a juicy ear of corn fresh off the grill, and you bite down in just the wrong way for an upper tooth to crash into a bottom tooth.

It really hurt, and when you check it out in the mirror, you can tell your tooth is cracked. There’s no question you need to see the dentist as soon as possible. You can take an OTC pain reliever in the meantime, but you know you can’t eat normally again until that tooth is repaired and protected with some sort of filling or crown, depending on the severity of the fracture.

Call Us For Urgent Dental Care

Any time you lose or damage a tooth, you should call us right away so we can arrange the soonest available appointment for urgent dental care. We’ll work quickly to relieve any pain and to fix your smile so you can get back to enjoying your summer.

Call Dr. James C. Ross at 248-697-2487 or contact us online to schedule an appointment in Novi, MI.