What to do in a dental emergency: a step-by-step Glasgow guide

What to do first, whatever has happened

Take a breath. Almost every dental emergency can be treated, and panic makes everything harder. Whatever has happened, the same four steps apply.

First, control the pain safely. An over-the-counter painkiller you normally tolerate, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen, taken exactly as the packet directs, is the safest starting point. Check with a pharmacist if you take other medicines or are unsure what is right for you, and never place an aspirin tablet against the gum. It does not work and it burns the soft tissue. A cold compress held against the cheek eases both pain and swelling.

Second, protect what is left. Save any fragments of tooth, a lost crown, or a knocked-out tooth in a small container of milk. Rinse your mouth gently with warm salt water, and cover any sharp edge with sugar-free chewing gum or dental wax from a pharmacy. Never use superglue or any household adhesive in your mouth.

Third, avoid making it worse. Chew on the other side, skip very hot, cold or sweet food and drink, and leave any swelling alone rather than pressing or trying to burst it.

Fourth, phone a dentist and describe what has happened. A two-minute conversation with a real person will tell you how urgently you need to be seen, and it beats guessing at 2am.

When to call an emergency dentist

Call for an urgent appointment if you have severe or worsening toothache that painkillers are not touching, facial swelling or a suspected abscess, a knocked-out adult tooth, a badly broken, loose or displaced tooth, bleeding that is not settling with firm pressure, or a lost crown or filling that is causing real pain. A knocked-out adult tooth is the most time-critical of all, so do not wait until morning.

Day Night Dental is in Merchant City, Glasgow, and we are genuinely open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That is not an answering machine and a promise of a callback. When you ring, our reception team picks up, whatever the hour, and we hold back same-day emergency slots every day for exactly these situations. You can read more about how urgent appointments work on our emergency dentist page, linked at the end of this guide. If you would rather use the NHS route, NHS 24 on 111 can advise on out-of-hours dental care in Scotland.

When to go to A&E or call 999 (red flags)

Some symptoms mean the problem has gone beyond a tooth and needs hospital care first. Go straight to A&E, or call 999, if you have any of the following: difficulty breathing or swallowing, swelling that is spreading towards your eye or down into your neck, a high temperature alongside facial swelling, bleeding that will not stop despite twenty minutes of firm, steady pressure, or a serious injury to the head, face or jaw, especially with dizziness, vomiting or any loss of consciousness.

These can be signs of a spreading infection or a significant injury. Get safe first. The tooth can always be sorted once you are.

Severe toothache

Toothache that throbs, keeps you awake at night, or gets worse when you lie down usually points to inflammation or infection deep in the tooth, and that needs a dentist rather than another night of painkillers. Take pain relief as directed on the packet, hold a cold compress to the cheek, keep your head propped up a little in bed, and avoid triggers such as hot drinks, ice and sugar.

One warning worth knowing: toothache that suddenly vanishes has not necessarily cured itself. It can mean the nerve inside the tooth has died, while the infection quietly carries on. Even if the pain stops, get the tooth looked at.

An abscess or facial swelling

A dental abscess is a pocket of infection, felt as a painful swelling in the gum or face, sometimes with a foul taste or a bad smell. It will not clear up on its own, and antibiotics alone do not fix the source. The tooth itself needs treatment. Rinse gently with warm salt water, take painkillers as directed, and never try to burst the swelling yourself.

Treat any facial swelling as a problem for today, not next week, and if it is spreading towards the eye or neck, or you feel feverish and unwell with it, follow the A&E advice above. Infections in this part of the body can move quickly, and they are always easier to deal with early.

A broken, chipped or cracked tooth

Find and save any pieces in milk, rinse your mouth with warm water, and cover a sharp edge with sugar-free gum or dental wax so it stops shredding your tongue. Chew on the other side until you are seen.

Treat it as urgent if the pain is severe, the tooth is loose or has moved, you can see a pink or bleeding spot at the centre of the break, which can mean the nerve is exposed, or the damage followed a hard knock. A small, painless chip can usually wait a day or two, but every broken tooth needs an appointment, because a crack left alone lets decay and infection in and a simple fix can become a root canal.

A knocked-out tooth

For an adult tooth, time is everything, so aim to be seen within sixty minutes. Pick the tooth up by the white crown and never touch the root. If it is dirty, rinse it in milk for a second or two, but do not scrub it or wipe it dry. If you can, place it straight back into the socket the right way round and bite gently on a clean cloth to hold it there. If you cannot face reinserting it, keep it in a small container of milk, or tucked inside your cheek, until you reach us. Plain water is a last resort, as it damages the delicate cells on the root that give the tooth its chance of reattaching.

A knocked-out baby tooth is completely different: never put it back in. Reinserting a baby tooth can damage the adult tooth developing underneath. Keep your child calm, save the tooth to show the dentist, and call us for advice.

A lost crown or filling

Keep the crown safe, because it can often be cleaned and re-cemented. A pharmacy temporary filling kit or temporary dental cement can protect the tooth in the meantime, and a little clove oil on a cotton bud may calm sensitivity. Never reach for superglue. It is toxic, it ruins the fit, and it makes the proper repair far harder.

A lost filling or crown is not always a middle-of-the-night emergency if there is no pain, but do not sit on it for weeks. The exposed tooth is soft, it decays quickly, and neighbouring teeth start to drift, so book promptly.

Bleeding that will not stop

After an extraction or a knock to the mouth, fold a piece of clean gauze or a cotton handkerchief into a firm pad, place it over the area, and bite down steadily for fifteen to twenty minutes without peeking. Avoid rinsing, spitting, hot drinks, alcohol and smoking, all of which disturb the clot that needs to form. If bleeding restarts, repeat once with a fresh pad.

If heavy bleeding still will not settle, seek urgent dental care, and mention when you call if you take blood-thinning medication. For severe, uncontrolled bleeding, go to A&E.

Children's dental emergencies

The same rules apply to children, with two extras. First, your calm is contagious, so steady yourself before you deal with the tooth. Second, be quicker to act on swelling or fever, because infections can take hold faster in small faces.

Remember the golden rule above: a knocked-out baby tooth never goes back in, while a knocked-out adult tooth in an older child should be reinserted or stored in milk just as it would be for you. For chips, wobbly teeth after a fall, or a toothache that is upsetting your child, call us and we will talk you through it. We see children at the practice too.

You do not need to be registered to be seen

This matters, because it stops people getting help. An emergency appointment is not the same as joining a practice. If you are in pain tonight, call now. Nobody will ask you to fill in registration forms before they deal with your pain, and being unregistered, or registered elsewhere, changes nothing.

Registering as a patient is the separate, unhurried process for routine care, check-ups and ongoing treatment, and you can sort it out later once the urgent problem is fixed. Never wait for a registration list to move while a tooth is getting worse.

In pain right now? Call us, day or night

If something in this guide sounds like your last hour, do the simple steps above, then pick up the phone. Whether it is a Tuesday lunchtime or 3am on a bank holiday, our Merchant City reception team will answer, listen, and tell you honestly what needs to happen next, including whether you need us tonight or can safely wait until morning. Save our number in your phone now, so you are not searching for it in pain at 2am.

Common questions