In the case of any emergency it is best to stay calm so that you can make timely and rational decisions. Of course, that proves easier said than done when you’re in the midst of a real-life emergency. Let’s look at some tips to stay calm in a dental emergency.
Tips to Stay Calm in a Dental Emergency
To give yourself the best chance of responding appropriately, it pays to be prepared. These are a few steps that you can take to help stay calm if and when you experience a dental emergency.
Have Your Emergency Dentist’s Phone Number In Your Phone
No one wants to be scouring the internet or fighting with WiFi when they’re in the midst of a dental emergency. For your safety, it is important to keep the emergency numbers for all major medical providers in your phone.
Before doing anything else, look up the emergency phone numbers for your local hospital, poison control, dentist, optometrist, and veterinarian (if you have pets) and enter them into your phone.
Thanks to this preparation, your emergency dentist in Cerritos will be just a few clicks away in the case of a dental emergency.
Put Together An Emergency Kit with the Help of Your Dentist
Your standard first aid kit includes a few useful tools that can help in a dental emergency. Gauze is a great example. However, there are relatively easy ways to beef up your first aid kit to make it even better.
Including a small pack of dental wax, floss, salt, dental adhesive, and a cold compress you can prepare for a whole host of possible dental emergencies. Check with your dentist to see if they have any handouts on emergency first aid that you can include in your kit.
Practice Mindfulness Exercises and Use Them
Panic is a normal emotional response to a physical emergency, but it isn’t a very helpful one. Unless you are the kind of person who naturally stays calm in tense situations, it may benefit you to practice mindfulness exercises a few times a week.
By doing these exercises repeatedly, you can increase the chance that they will come naturally to you in a crisis. Taking a moment or two to breathe and refocus your energy proves infinitely better than ending up frozen in a panicked state.
Take a First Aid Class that Covers Dental Emergencies
Your dentist isn’t just in charge of your general dental care in Cerritos. They handle dental emergencies every day, and they’re well aware that the general public is under-educated on the subject.
When you see your dentist next, ask them if they know of any first aid classes or other educational materials that will provide you with a basic understanding of oral first aid. Ideally, these materials should provide instructions on what to do in the case of a lost or broken tooth as well as other relatively common dental emergencies.
Recognize Who Is Calm and Delegate Necessary Tasks
In the midst of an emergency, speed and accuracy are essential. While you should be ready to step up if needed, you should ideally be able to delegate necessary tasks to other level-headed people in your immediate vicinity.
For example, if an adolescent sustains an oral injury during a contact sporting event and loses a tooth, four key tasks should be split among four different people for the best effect.
One person should be calling the child’s dentist to let them know they will be coming in for an emergency appointment. A second should be searching for the tooth. A third should be getting the first aid kit, and a fourth should be bringing a vehicle as close as possible to the site.
