While never pleasant for the patient, dental emergencies occur every day across the world. Usually, though, a tooth is knocked out, or a crunchy snack leads to breakage. Never in your life would you have thought the following stories could have happened to you. Read on to learn more about these crazy and fascinating dental emergencies!
If You Plant it, it Will Grow
One day, a patient visits their dentist because of a persistent toothache and pain in the gums. After examining them, the dentist says a root canal is the only fix. Plaque and tartar are suspected – what isn’t suspected is a sprouting plant! It’s later discovered that a tomato seed that got stuck was the culprit for the unexpected growth.
Catch the Problem Early
Let this be a lesson to parents everywhere: Get your kids to the dentist at an early age. A young boy who’d never been to the dentist began to complain of severe pain and his gums became very swollen. During the examination, the dentist found maggots in his gums. It’s unknown how they formed, but let’s hope that his parents were convinced to take him to the dentist twice a year from now on!
Do-It-Yourself
Superglue may be good at mending a lot of things, but dental fixes isn’t one of them. When a woman’s crown fell out, rather than visiting her dentist, she attempted to reattach it with superglue. Instead, she glued her teeth together and made a mess of it on her mouth and throat in the process! Here’s betting that she left it to the professionals in the future.
Calculus Bridge
When teeth aren’t properly cleaned over an extended period, plaque and tartar can accumulate significantly. Eventually, this buildup can harden and form what’s known as a “calculus bridge,” which links the teeth and gums. In one case, a patient attempted to forcefully brush away this hardened deposit, only to have their teeth start falling out. The reason? After years of neglect, the calculus bridge was the only thing keeping their teeth in place.
The Denture Story
Over time, dentures need to be relined or sometimes replaced. You’re also supposed to remove them and clean them daily. An elderly lady must have forgotten about this or just plain neglected it. When she saw her dentist for a repair, they were horrified to learn that she’d left her dentures in for months, which created an abominable smell and infected her gums! Let’s hope she learned her lesson and began cleaning her dentures every day.
Just Replace It
A patient took the right first step when her dental crown came loose – she called her dentist. However, she left out some key information until after the procedure. After the crown fell out, she set it on the counter to keep it safe, but it accidentally dropped and her dog swallowed it. She waited three days for it to pass naturally, retrieved it from her dog’s stool during a walk, cleaned it, and brought it to her appointment. While reusing things is often smart, there are times when a fresh replacement is the wiser choice.
Dental emergencies happen, but if you experience one, hopefully it doesn’t turn out as gruesome as one of these dark tales!
About the Practice
If you find yourself in a dental emergency, you can rest assured that at Family Dentistry of Boynton Beach, we’ll treat you quickly with the best care possible. We can schedule a same-day or even weekend appointment no matter your age, and if you have intense anxiety about the procedure, we offer sedation methods that can ease your worries. Schedule your appointment online or call us at (561) 737-1223.