What Do I Do if I Have a Dental Emergency and No Dentist in Aurora, CO?

Key Takeaways

• Trouble breathing or swallowing, swelling spreading toward the eye or neck, bleeding you cannot stop, or a facial injury with possible head trauma are emergency room and 911 situations rather than dental office ones.
• For a knocked-out permanent tooth, the American Association of Endodontists advises rinsing with water only, replacing it in the socket if possible, storing it in milk if not, and being seen within 30 minutes.
• The CU Anschutz School of Dental Medicine runs a walk-in Dental First Aid Clinic in Aurora, first come, first served, Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m.
• An emergency department can control pain and infection but generally cannot repair the tooth, so plan for a dental appointment either way.

Work out first whether this is a hospital problem or a dental problem. Swelling that is closing your airway or making it hard to swallow, swelling spreading toward your eye or down your neck, bleeding you cannot stop with steady pressure, or a facial injury where a head injury or broken bone is possible are emergency room and 911 situations, not dental office ones. Everything else is a dental problem, and it needs a dentist rather than an emergency department, because a hospital can treat pain and infection but generally cannot fix the tooth.

If you are in Aurora without a regular dentist, you have more options than you probably think, including a walk-in clinic on the Anschutz campus. Triage comes first below, then first aid for the four most common emergencies, then where to actually go.

Aspenwood Dental Associates and Colorado Dental Implant Center have been an independent practice on S Peoria Street since 1972. We keep time for urgent cases, and we also think you deserve the full picture of what is available locally, including the places that are not us.

Go To An Emergency Room Or Call 911 If Any Of This Is Happening

• Difficulty breathing or difficulty swallowing, or a swelling that is pushing into the floor of your mouth or your throat.
• Facial swelling that is spreading toward the eye, along the jaw, or down into the neck, especially with fever.
• Bleeding you cannot control with fifteen to twenty minutes of firm, continuous pressure on gauze.
• A blow to the face where a broken jaw, a head injury, or loss of consciousness is possible.
• Any of the above alongside a medical condition that makes infection more dangerous for you.

Dental infections can spread into the tissue spaces of the face and neck, and the American Association of Endodontists notes that an untreated abscessed tooth can become a serious, even life-threatening, infection. That is the reason the airway and swallowing questions come first on this list rather than last. The AAE’s abscessed teeth page sets out the warning signs.

One thing to expect if you do go to a hospital: emergency departments are set up to manage pain and infection, not to restore teeth. You are likely to leave with the problem controlled and the tooth still needing treatment. Plan for a dental appointment either way.

A Knocked-Out Permanent Tooth Is The One That Is Genuinely A Race

This is the emergency where minutes change the outcome, and it is also the one where the internet gives contradictory advice. The guidance below is the American Association of Endodontists’ own, and where older advice still circulating online differs, follow the AAE.

• Pick the tooth up by the crown, the chewing surface. Never touch the root. The cells on the root surface are what allow the tooth to reattach.
• If it is dirty, rinse it gently with water. Water, not milk, and not soap or any chemical. Do not scrub it, do not dry it, and do not wrap it in tissue or cloth.
• Put it back in the socket straight away if you can. Handle it by the crown, push gently with your fingers, or position it over the socket and close slowly, then hold it there with light finger pressure or by biting gently.
• If it will not go back, keep it wet. Milk is the standard storage medium, or hold it inside your cheek, or use an emergency tooth preservation kit. Do not use tap water for storage, because root surface cells cannot tolerate it for long.
• Get to a dentist within 30 minutes and bring the tooth. The AAE puts the target at 30 minutes and notes it is still possible to save a tooth that has been out for an hour or more, so a delay is a reason to hurry rather than a reason to give up.

The full guidance is on the AAE’s knocked-out teeth page. A knocked-out baby tooth is handled differently and is generally not replanted, so call rather than pushing it back in.

The Other Three Common Emergencies

Severe toothache

Rinse with warm salt water and take an over-the-counter pain reliever you normally tolerate, following the label. Do not put aspirin against the gum, which can burn the tissue. A cold compress on the outside of the cheek helps with swelling. Pain that wakes you up at night, pain that stays after something cold, and pain that feels different over a few days all suggest it’s a nerve issue. You should get an appointment instead of waiting.

Broken or cracked tooth

Rinse with warm water, use a cold compress on the outside of the face, and keep any pieces you can find in a clean container to bring with you. Avoid chewing on that side. Sharp edges can be covered temporarily with dental wax from a pharmacy if the tongue is being cut.

Lost filling or crown

Keep the crown if you have it. Cover the exposed tooth with dental wax or a piece of sugar-free gum to reduce sensitivity, avoid chewing on it, and avoid using household glue of any kind. This is urgent rather than an emergency in most cases, but an unprotected tooth chips and decays quickly, so it is not a wait-and-see.

Where To Go In Aurora When You Do Not Have A Dentist

Three routes, in the order most people find useful.

• A dental practice that keeps urgent slots. Most practices, including ours, hold time back for same-day problems. Being a new patient is not a barrier. Call rather than turning up, because the office can tell you whether you should be somewhere else, and that call costs nothing.
• The CU Anschutz School of Dental Medicine Dental First Aid Clinic. This is in Aurora at 13065 E. 17th Avenue, and it takes walk-ins. It runs first come, first served for same-day appointments, opens at 8:00 a.m., and accepts walk-in patients until 3:15 p.m. based on availability, and is open Monday to Friday. Third and fourth-year dental students provide care under faculty supervision. Its published list of what it treats includes a lost or loose permanent tooth, tooth infection, sudden severe tooth pain, a swollen jaw or mouth, and pain or trauma related to orthodontic appliances. It states that it accepts cash, major credit and debit cards, and Health First Colorado. Current hours, fees, and contact details are on the school’s own Dental First Aid Clinic page.
• A hospital emergency department, for the airway, spreading swelling, uncontrolled bleeding, and trauma situations listed at the top.

If cost is the reason you do not have a dentist, one thing is worth knowing. Health First Colorado, the state’s Medicaid program, covers adult dental services, including extractions, and the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing states that emergency services and dentures do not count toward the adult yearly benefit limit. If you are eligible and not enrolled, that is a call worth making.

How Aspenwood Handles An Emergency Call In Aurora

We ask questions before we book anything, because the first job is working out how urgent this actually is and whether we are the right place. If you are describing spreading facial swelling or trouble swallowing, we will tell you to go to an emergency department, and we will say so immediately.

If it is a dental problem, we look for the same-day slot, take radiographs to see what is happening below the surface, and prioritize getting you comfortable and the situation stable before anything elective. Sometimes that means definitive treatment the same day. Sometimes it means settling the infection first and planning the rest properly, which is usually the better outcome even though it is the slower-sounding one. Where a case needs an oral surgeon or an endodontist, we say so and coordinate the referral rather than attempting it.

For anxious patients, and emergencies bring that out in people who are ordinarily fine, comfort options are available and worth mentioning when you call. We would rather know in advance than discover it in the chair.

How To Stop This Being A Recurring Emergency

Most of what arrives as an emergency was visible earlier. A cracked cusp, a failing old filling, and a tooth that has been sensitive to cold for months. None of that is a criticism of anyone who has been putting off finding a dentist, and there are usually good reasons, cost and a bad past experience being the two we hear most.

The practical version of prevention is having a dentist before you need one. That is the whole idea behind a dental home, and it is why a first visit here is a complimentary consultation rather than a treatment appointment. You meet the team, get a diagnosis and a plan, and decide afterwards whether we are the right fit. What that visit involves is described on our first visit page, and ongoing preventive care is covered on our dental cleanings page.

If You Need To Be Seen Today

Call the office at (303) 529-2913 and tell whoever answers what is happening. If it is urgent, we will find you a slot, and if you should be somewhere else, we will tell you that instead. You can also reach us through the contact page for anything that is uncomfortable rather than urgent. And if you have been meaning to find a dentist before the next thing goes wrong, that is exactly what a complimentary first visit is for.

Frequently Asked Questions