Emergencies and Emergency Treatment

1. Life threatening experiences (Please contact the emergency dispatch at 911)
   1. Excessive bleeding that will not stop
   2. Difficulty breathing
   3. Allergic reaction to medication
   4. Any other condition that you feel is life threatening or serious
2. Bleeding
   1. Please apply continual pressure with gauze for a minimum of 10 minutes.  It takes a minimum of  7 minutes for blood to start to clot.
   2. Call us for assistance if the wound or extraction site does not stop bleeding within 4 hours or the bleeding is so heavy that you should call sooner.  Remember, a little blood can mix with saliva and appear to be large quantities of blood, don't be fooled.
3. Pain
   1. Take your pain medication as prescribed.
   2. If Dr. Conway or the pharmacist suggested taking more or adding Tylenol to the existing medication please do as directed.
   3. Over the counter medication can help too, Motrin 400mg or Motrin up to doses of 800mg. See labels and recommendations.
   4. Moderate to Sever pain needs stronger medication. Please contact the office or Dr. Conway on his cell phone.
4. Antibiotics/Infections
   1. Remember that antibiotics take 2-3 days to start fighting infections and decrease swelling. Swelling may be associated with mild pain.  Therefore take pain medications to help you during the first few days while the antibiotic fights the infection.
   2. Infections of the face and oral cavity should note have hot compress or heating pads on the outside of the cheek, this can cause the infection  to drain to the outside of the face.  Please avoid hot compress in this case.
5. TMJ   Is a very big inconvenience but generally not considered an emergency unless you have severe pain or a dislocated jaw. 
   1. Try cool compresses for the first 48 hours and then warm compresses after.
   2. Do not eat or chew on hard foods.
   3. Do not chew gum.
   4. Do not clench or grind your teeth together.
6. Temporary Crowns and Temporary Fillings
   1. If your temporary crowns falls out or becomes dislodged while eating, make sure to keep the temporary crown and call the office or Dr. Conway for the next available appointment to have the crown re-cemented.
   2. The same applies to temporary fillings or restorations. Also if they are high and bothering you, call us.
7. Crowns and Fillings  
   1. If your restorations are high and interfering with your bite or are painful to biting down, call us. Avoid chewing on that tooth and call us for the soonest appointment to adjust the bite (occlusion).
8. Root Canal Procedures 
   1. It is common to have pain on the biting surface of the complete root canal tooth for 1-3 days following treatment. 
   2. Some swelling could occur, make sure you are taking the antibiotic prescribed for you.
   3. Take care not to bite on the root canaled tooth,  you do not want to break this tooth into pieces prior to reinforcing it with a restoration or crown
9. Root Plaining
   1. Most patients undergoing root plaining will not experience a high volume of blood loss or suffer from pain.  At most, the gums will be sensitive for one day and night and then resolve.
10. Medications 
    1. Before discontinuing medications that Dr. Conway has prescribed, please contact the office first UNLESS you are showing signs of: difficulties breathing, wheezing, swelling, rash, hives, dizziness, nausea or vomiting. Then you should stop the medication and immediately contact our office. If you are having difficulty breathing or this could be an allergic reaction to the medication, please have someone take you to the hospital, or call 911.
    2. If you stop taking your antibiotics prior to the end of your antibiotic prescription, this can cause problems, decrease the effectiveness of the medication in the future and not resolve the infection for which Dr. Conway prescribed the medication.
11. General Questions and Concerns
    1. Please just call and leave a message. We will return your call back the next business day. 
12. How to place an emergency call to Dr. Conway or on-call dentist
    1. Please speak clearly and spell you name if difficult to understand from message
    2. Leave you last name, first name
    3. Leave the best phone number or numbers to reach you
    4. If calling regarding a prescription, make sure to leave your date of birth and the name and phone number of the local Pharmacy that you use.
    5. Explain the nature of the problem
       1. EXAMPLE:  "My name is Jane Doe. Dr. Conway removed my wisdom tooth 2 days ago and the bleeding has really never stopped. I see big clots of blood in my mouth and when I clean the clot it seems to bleed more again.  I am not taking any medication for pain; I do not have pain or swelling. I am concerned about my bleeding.  Please call me at (area code) phone number." 
13. If you cannot reach Dr. Conway or a on-call dentist
    1. Information about on-call dentists can be found on the greeting message for our office recorder. Please make 2-3 attempts to reach the General Dentist on-call. If they are not available then contact the Oral Surgeon on-call.
    2. Remember that the dentist on-call is a general dentist like Dr. Conway. He/she has the same experience treating all conditions. 
    3. If you call the Oral Surgeon that is a back up if you need assistance and you have not received a returned call. The Oral Surgeon is only available to assist you  with bleeding, pain, swelling, infection questions and of course any questions relating to oral surgery.  Please only contact the Oral Surgeon if you need help and no one else is available.  Please try to contact the on-call general dentist 2-3 times prior to calling the on-call Oral Surgeon.
14. Information resources can be found at the links Dental Education and Favorite Web Sites/Links.
15. If you are confused and need assistance please call 911 for life threatening problems, otherwise contact Dr. Conway's emergency cell phone number:

925-989-6566