Emergency Dentist NYC: Same-Day Urgent Dental Care in Midtown East Manhattan

Symptoms: throbbing pain, sensitivity to hot and cold, facial swelling, a bad taste, tenderness when biting, a bump on the gums.

First aid right now: rinse with warm salt water. Hold a cold compress against the outside of your cheek to reduce inflammation from facial swelling. Take over the counter pain relievers as directed on the label to manage pain. Never place aspirin directly against the gum, and do not apply heat to a swollen area.

What to know: a dental abscess is an active infection that spreads through the jaw and facial tissues. Tell our office about any medical conditions and medications when you call. Go to a hospital emergency room instead if swelling affects your breathing, your swallowing, or your ability to open your eye.

How we fix it today: our endodontists perform emergency root canal treatment, or Dr. Wang drains the abscess surgically, to eliminate the infection at the source.

Symptoms: sharp pain when chewing, a rough edge cutting your tongue or cheek, sensitivity to temperature.

First aid right now: cover a sharp edge with orthodontic wax or sugarless gum so it stops cutting your tongue. Chew on the opposite side until we see you.

What to know: a cracked tooth is urgent when the fracture extends beneath the gumline or exposes the nerve. Pain that lingers after you release your bite usually means the crack reaches the pulp.

How we fix it today: our general dentists restore chipped teeth with tooth colored composite resin. For a major fracture we prepare the permanent crown and place a custom temporary crown the same day. Our periodontists, Dr. Jin Wang and Dr. Hyun Woo, extract teeth with vertical root fractures, because a fracture running the length of the root cannot be repaired with a crown or a root canal.

Symptoms: a missing restoration, exposed tooth structure, sharp sensitivity to hot, cold, and air.

First aid right now: keep the crown or veneer and bring it with you. Chew on the opposite side. Use over the counter temporary dental cement if the tooth is sensitive. Never use household glue to reseat a restoration, because it damages the tooth and prevents us from recementing the original.

What to know: exposed dentin decays quickly and progresses to nerve pain within days.

How we fix it today: we clean and recement your original restoration, or place a new permanent filling during the same visit.

Symptoms: the entire tooth, including the root, is out of the socket.

First aid right now: pick the tooth up by the crown and never touch or scrub the root. If the tooth is dirty, rinse it for about 10 seconds under cold running water. Place it straight back into the socket in its original orientation and bite gently on gauze or a clean cloth to hold it in place. If you cannot reinsert it, keep the tooth wet at all times: cold milk is best, saline is second, and an adult can hold it inside the cheek. Never let the tooth dry out and never store it in tap water. Call 212-355-2290 and come in now. A knocked out tooth has the best chance of surviving when we reimplant it within 30 minutes.

What to know: the root surface carries living cells that die when the tooth dries out. Do not scrub the root or remove tissue attached to it. Never reimplant a knocked out baby tooth, because it damages the permanent tooth developing underneath. Do not force the tooth, if it does not seat easily bring it in milk instead.

How we fix it today: we clean the socket, reimplant the tooth, and splint it to the neighboring teeth while the bone heals.

Symptoms: severe pain when you release bite pressure, a visibly split tooth, a tooth that moves in two pieces.

First aid right now: stop chewing on that side. Take over the counter pain relievers as directed to manage pain. Use a cold compress against your cheek if the area is swollen.

What to know: a tooth split below the gumline cannot be saved with a crown or a root canal. Removing it early preserves the surrounding bone.

How we fix it today: Dr. Wang and Dr. Woo perform emergency tooth extractions with immediate bone grafting to preserve the socket for a future dental implant.

Symptoms: a snapped partial denture, a missing tooth on a bridge, a cracked acrylic base, a clasp that no longer holds.

First aid right now: stop wearing the appliance, because a broken edge lacerates your gums and tongue. Bring every piece with you. Never repair a denture with household glue, since it contaminates the acrylic and makes a proper repair impossible.

What to know: a denture that breaks repeatedly in the same place usually indicates a poor fit from bone loss rather than a weak material.

How we fix it today: our master technician completes structural repairs in our on-site laboratory Monday through Thursday, without mailing your appliance to an outside lab.

Symptoms: throbbing pain that starts two to four days after an extraction, an empty-looking socket, a bad taste, pain radiating toward your ear.

First aid right now: take over the counter pain relievers as directed to manage pain. Rinse gently with warm salt water. Do not use a straw, do not smoke, and do not rinse forcefully, because suction and pressure dislodge the healing clot.

What to know: a dry socket happens when the blood clot over the extraction site is lost before the bone underneath has healed. Prolonged bleeding, spreading swelling, or fever after any oral surgery needs same-day evaluation.

How we fix it today: we irrigate the socket and place a medicated dressing that relieves the pain within minutes. We replace the dressing over the following days until the site heals.

Symptoms: a wire poking your cheek, a bracket that has come loose, a cracked retainer or night guard, an appliance that no longer fits.

First aid right now: cover a poking wire with orthodontic wax. Do not cut the wire yourself. Keep every piece of a broken retainer and bring it with you. Stop wearing a cracked appliance.

What to know: a loose wire lacerates the cheek and tongue within hours. Teeth begin shifting within days of a retainer breaking, which is why a replacement matters sooner than most patients expect.

How we fix it today: we trim wires, re-bond loose brackets, and repair or replace retainers and night guards. Our on-site laboratory fabricates replacement appliances Monday through Thursday.

Symptoms: swollen or bleeding gums, a painful lump along the gumline, a tooth that has become loose, a dental implant that moves or aches, pus at the gumline.

First aid right now: rinse with warm salt water. Take over the counter pain relievers as directed to manage pain. Do not press or squeeze a swollen area of gum. Stop chewing on a loose tooth or implant.

What to know: advanced gum disease destroys the bone holding your teeth, and a tooth that has loosened from bone loss will not tighten on its own. A loose implant needs assessment within days, because continued movement destroys the bone the implant depends on.

How we fix it today: our periodontists, Dr. Jin Wang and Dr. Hyun Woo, drain gum abscesses through incision and drainage, perform dental deep cleaning to stabilize severe gum inflammation, and assess and stabilize loose dental implants.