Basic Facts About Emergency Dentistry
Emergency is not very common in dentistry. Though toothache is a common serious problem, it cannot be exactly called emergency. Toothache is second most painful condition along with labourpain. Appendicitis, has the distinction of being most severe painful condition among all disease states.
Emergency dentistry deals with dental emergencies. Some dental emergencies are:
= Fracture of lower jaw (mandible) which generally occurs in road traffic accidents ( RTA).
= Severe profuse uncontrolled bleeding from extracted tooth.
= Fracture of upper jaw (maxillary bone) which also generally occurs in RTA.
In present rapid socioeconomic change emergency dentistry is emerging rapidly. Common people are becoming aware of emergency dentistry. In all major big general hospitals dentists are also working in casualties along with medical personals.
Proper training should be given to dental surgeons during intern training and also on job training programmes should be provided to the dentists, so they can become good emergency dentist.
Orthodontists, a specialized branch of dentistry generally perform emergency surgeries of RTA. They are trained for doing the fixing of broken jaws both upper and lower jaws.
As prevention is better than cure, dentistry should also concentrate on preventive side more than curative aspect. Emergency will always be there so will be emergency dentistry, but preventive aspect should not be neglected as is done in many countries.