Emergency Dentist in Albuquerque, NM

When facing life-threatening issues, it’s important to visit the Emergency Room as soon as possible. But what if your emergency isn’t life-threatening? When your tooth is causing you severe pain or your gums are swelling up, you still need prompt care and pain relief. Fortunately, an emergency dentist is able to treat your smile quickly and effectively! At Sunshine Dental in Albuquerque, NM, we take your dental emergencies seriously. If you need immediate treatment, contact us as soon as possible for an emergency appointment.

What Is an Emergency Dentist?

A dental emergency is an urgent issue affecting your teeth or gums, and an emergency dentist is a qualified professional who treats your smile. When it comes to a dental emergency, waiting to schedule an appointment can mean days of severe pain or swelling. In some cases, a prompt visit to an emergency dentist means the difference between saving a tooth and losing it.

Common dental emergencies are:

• Severe toothaches
• Broken teeth
• Lost restorations
• Dental abscesses
• Knocked-out-teeth

However, not every dental issue is an emergency.

The best way to know if you’re facing a dental emergency is to give us a call. At Sunshine Dental in Albuquerque, NM, we will listen to your problems and help you determine if you need to be seen right away.

How an Emergency Dentist Can Help

Unfortunately, we can’t always completely resolve your dental problems in a single emergency appointment. Some treatments take time and careful planning, which we don’t always have. But even if we can’t fully treat your smile, we make sure to provide pain relief and send you home with ways to ease your discomfort.

Common procedures we use to treat dental emergencies include:

Root Canal Therapy

When you experience severe or sudden tooth pain, it may be due to a root canal infection.

This infection occurs when bacteria enter your tooth, moving past protective enamel and sensitive dentin. Once inside, they reach your inner tooth and root canals, which house dental pulp. Pulp is a sensitive collection of blood vessels, connective tissues, and nerves that cause intense pain when infected.

Thankfully, root canal therapy helps stop the pain. After making an opening in your tooth, we use specialized tools to remove the pulp from your root canals. Afterward, with the pulp gone and all signs of bacteria flushed out, we seal the tooth with a dental filling or crown.

This process not only relieves pain but also saves your tooth from needing an extraction.

Gum Disease Treatment

Without a good oral hygiene routine, bacteria will accumulate in your mouth, potentially causing gum disease.

This inflammatory infection progresses in stages. In the initial stage, gum disease is called gingivitis, with symptoms like bleeding gums, bad breath, and sensitivity. However, patients often don’t realize they’re experiencing gingivitis until it advances into periodontitis.

Periodontal disease is a more intense infection that has lasting consequences. Patients will notice their gums receding, pulling away from their teeth, and forming deep pockets. These pockets harbor bacteria, which cause inflammation and pain.

Gum disease treatment at Sunshine Dental involves using the Waterlase Laser. This innovative laser technology utilizes water, air, and laser energy to remove infected tissues. Unlike conventional gum disease treatment, the Waterlase Laser helps reduce inflammation, improve healing, and preserve your gum and bone tissues.

Dental Crowns

When a tooth is vulnerable, whether due to decay, injury, or infection, a dental crown helps strengthen its structure.

These tooth-shaped caps cover teeth that may no longer be functional but are healthy enough not to require extraction. By keeping your natural teeth and fortifying them with a dental crown, you can keep your jawbone healthy and prevent the need for tooth replacement.

To place a dental crown, we simply remove enamel on all sides of your tooth to fit the cap. Then, once your final, custom crown is ready, we will secure it over your tooth to blend in seamlessly with your natural smile.

Tooth Extractions

While Sunshine Dental tries to save your natural teeth, it’s not always possible. Some teeth are too risky to keep in your smile, as they may spread infection and inhibit your ability to function.

When root canal treatment or a dental crowns are no longer an options, we may perform a tooth extraction. By removing your tooth from your smile, we help keep your remaining teeth healthy.

At our office, we use a Piezotome Cube to extract teeth. This machine helps reduce pain and swelling post-extraction, preserving your gum and bone tissue.

Dental Implants

After a tooth extraction, you’ll need prompt replacement.

Missing teeth cause your jawbone to lose mass and volume over time. The longer you leave missing teeth, the more bone you will lose. Fortunately, dental implants help restore smiles and strengthen jawbones.

These titanium screws anchor in your jaw to support artificial tooth restorations like a crown, bridge, or denture. But thanks to tooth loss, many patients don’t have the necessary bone structure to support dental implants.

At Sunshine Dental, we address this problem with mini dental implants. These small titanium screws require less bone support. Once inside your bone, mini implants are immediately stable enough to support a temporary restoration. Then, in just a few weeks, they can support a final crown, bridge, or denture to permanently restore your smile.

Trust an Emergency Dentist in Albuquerque, NM, With Your Smile!

While a life-threatening emergency is certainly for the ER, save your dental emergencies for the professionals. As an emergency dentist, the staff at Sunshine Dental is committed to providing you with great care and effective pain relief. If you think you may be experiencing a dental emergency, contact us as soon as possible!

Frequently Asked Questions