Emergency dental care for Sacramento athletes
Sacramentans love sports! We are home to the Sacramento Kings hoop heroes and the River Cats Triple-A sluggers. Just like those professional athletes, you and your kids are at elevated risk of oral injuries when you play sports. It is good to know that emergency dental care in Sacramento is as close as Adams Dental Associates on Scripps Drive.
Unexpected injuries
If you participate in sports or other physical activities without proper protective gear, you might expect to knock a tooth lose (or out), break one-off, or get a cut lip or cheek. However, there are other hazards that you might not realize:
- Cracked tooth – Usually caused by a blow to the face, with potential long-term problems. Craze lines can be horizontal, or vertical from crown to edge of the tooth. You may not be aware of a crack until it hurts when you bite down (then pain stops) or develop an intermittent toothache. Hot and cold foods usually cause discomfort, and a piece of enamel shell may flake off, exposing internal tooth structure. If damage allows bacteria to reach the pulp at the center of the tooth, you will likely end up needing root canal therapy or extraction.
- Fractured root – Facial impact can fracture the root of a tooth without immediate visible damage, although the crack soon travels to the crown. This injury usually becomes obvious when infection develops, requiring endodontic treatment.
- Intrusion – Tooth intrusion is not as common as avulsion (knocking a tooth out) but can be more serious. Intrusion is when a tooth is driven back into the jawbone. It happens more often in children because their alveolar bones have not fully hardened. Regardless, the tooth generally dies, or the roots shorten in response to the injury.
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Emergency dental services
When a dental emergency arises, Dr. Kosta Adams and Dr. Kristen Adams are here for you. They build time into the daily schedule to see urgent cases, getting you out of pain quickly. Often, treatment can be performed and completed on the same day.
Play it safe. Call (916) 999-1302 for emergency dental care in the Sacramento area.
