Radiant Smiles is closed Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. If you have a dental emergency on one of those days, call (203) 372-0881 anyway — the message will tell you what to do, and you will be seen first thing on the next open day.
Meanwhile, here is what to actually do. Some of it is time-critical, and thirty minutes genuinely matters.
First: is this a hospital problem?
Go to a hospital emergency room now, not to a dentist, if you have:
- Facial swelling together with a fever
- Any difficulty swallowing or breathing
- Swelling that is spreading — around the eye, or down into the neck
- A jaw injury after a serious blow or fall
A dental infection that spreads into the tissues of the face and neck is a medical emergency, not a dental one. It can obstruct an airway. Do not wait until Thursday, and do not wait for a callback. Go.
Everything else on this page is a dental problem, and it can be managed until we open.
A knocked-out adult tooth — the thirty-minute window
This is the one where speed changes the outcome.
- Find it. Pick it up by the crown — never the root. The root surface carries living cells and they are what allow the tooth to re-attach.
- Do not scrub it. If it is dirty, rinse briefly in milk or saline. Not water. Not soap.
- Put it straight back in the socket and bite gently on a clean cloth to hold it there.
- If you cannot, keep it in milk — or tucked inside your own cheek. Not in water, and not dry in a tissue.
- Call (203) 372-0881 immediately, whatever day it is.
A tooth kept moist has a real chance. A tooth left dry for an hour usually does not. If we are closed, call anyway — this is what the message is for, and it is worth trying an urgent-care dental clinic rather than waiting.
A baby tooth is not put back. Re-implanting it can damage the adult tooth developing above. Still call.
A broken or cracked tooth
Rinse with warm water. Cold compress on the outside of the cheek. Keep any fragment in milk — a broken corner of a front tooth can sometimes be bonded straight back on.
Do not chew on that side. Cover a sharp edge with sugar-free gum or orthodontic wax if it is cutting your tongue.
Do not wait to see if it settles down. A break that does not hurt this week can be a root canal next month.
Severe toothache
- An over-the-counter painkiller you normally tolerate, taken at the proper dose and on schedule rather than when it becomes unbearable.
- A cold compress on the outside of the cheek — twenty minutes on, twenty off.
- Sleep propped up. Lying flat increases the pressure in the tooth, which is why toothache is worse at night. This one genuinely helps.
- Avoid very hot, very cold and very sweet things, which set it off.
Do not hold aspirin against the gum. It burns the tissue and adds a chemical burn to the problem you already have. This is a persistent piece of folk advice and it is actively harmful.
A lost crown or filling
Keep the crown if you have it — bring it in. Avoid chewing on that side.
Do not glue it back yourself. Household adhesive is not dental cement, it is not safe in your mouth, and it can make the tooth impossible to restore properly. Temporary dental cement from a pharmacy is acceptable for a night or two. Superglue is not, ever.
A swelling or an abscess
A swelling on the gum, or a face that is puffy on one side, means infection.
Rinse with warm salt water. Cold compress. Painkillers. And call the moment we open.
If the swelling is spreading, or you have a fever, or it is becoming difficult to swallow — go to a hospital. See the top of this page.
Antibiotics from a walk-in clinic will make the pain go away and will not fix it. The infection is inside the tooth, where the blood supply is dead, and antibiotics travel in the blood. They buy time. They are not the treatment, and the problem will return.
Why we are closed three days a week
Because we are a small practice with one dentist, and we would rather be honest about our limits than advertise hours we cannot staff.
You should be sceptical of any listing that claims a Bridgeport dentist is open twenty-four hours. Check it against the practice's own website before you drive anywhere in pain.
We are open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to 5:30 p.m., and Friday to 1:00 p.m., and we hold time each of those days for urgent problems. Call early.
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In pain? Call (203) 372-0881, whatever day it is. Emergency dentistry in Bridgeport.
Educational, not a diagnosis. Facial swelling with fever, or any difficulty breathing or swallowing, is a medical emergency — go to a hospital.
