same day emergency dental care

Your smile is one of the first things other people notice about you. You deserve a porcelain crown, veneer or even composite bond that matches your other teeth.  A confident, sincere and beautiful smile helps you make a great first impression.

When you smile, no one else but your dentist should know that you have had dental work. A broken front tooth is a dental emergency – and even emergency dental treatment needs to give beautiful results. The dentists at McCarl Dental Group in Millersville and Greenbelt Maryland treat cosmetic dental problems as true dental emergencies. When a dental emergency is causing pain, discomfort or embarrassment – we ask, “How soon can you meet us at one of our dental offices?” For three generations, we have treated our patients like family.

Catherine Brandt, a dental patient who visits both our Millersville and Greenbelt Maryland dental offices broke her front tooth. Here is what Catherine said about her experience at McCarl Dental Group. “I never realized how much I valued the ability to smile with confidence until I broke my front tooth.  I wasn’t in any pain, but Dr. Clayton McCarl still treated it as an emergency and fixed me right up with a temporary crown.  Soon after, Dr. Clayton took a mold and fitted me with a permanent crown that perfectly matched my other front tooth in color.  I visited other dentists when I lived outside of Maryland, and each commented on the quality work that Dr. Clayton did on my crown.  The same outstanding level of care and talent is applied to all of my dental needs from the doctors, hygienists, and staff at McCarl Dental.”

Root canal treatment is the removal of the tooth’s pulp, a small, thread-like tissue in the center or canal of the tooth that contains a tiny nerve, artery, and vein. The pulp is the part of the tooth that gets infected from decay or trauma and transmits pain messages to the brain. Once the damaged, infected or decayed pulp is removed, the remaining space is cleaned, shaped and filled which seals the canal.

With the experienced dentists at McCarl Dental Group, a root canal is a simple and routine procedure that will have you feeling great again quickly. During the root canal, your dentist will remove the pulp from the center of the tooth and fill the pulp cavity. This dental procedure promotes healing and can relieve a toothache and prevent the development of a painful infection that may spread to other teeth. A root canal can also treat an infection that has progressed into an abscessed tooth.

It is important to make an appointment to see your dentist as soon as possible if you are experiencing dental pain. Bacteria from an infected tooth can enter the bloodstream and cause infections in other parts of the body. Dental patients who are at higher risk of complications from infection or are immunosuppressed may need to take antibiotics before and after a root canal.

The Root Canal Procedure
• First, your dentist will numb your gums with a gel and then your dentist will inject a local anesthetic that will completely numb the teeth, gums, tongue, and skin near the infected tooth.
• The dentist may use a dental damn to separate the decayed tooth from the other teeth. A dental damn is a small sheet of rubber on a metal frame that helps stop liquid and tooth chips from entering your mouth and throat.
• The dentist will use small instruments and a drill to remove the pulp from the tooth. Your dentist may also fill the interior of the tooth below the gum line with medicines, temporary filling materials, and a root canal filling.
• When the root canal is complete, a permanent filling and often a dental crown is needed to strengthen the weakened tooth. When making a crown, the dentist shapes the tooth and then scans the tooth to create a digital impression that is sent to the dental lab fabricating the tooth. With digital impressions, each porcelain crown is a perfect fit! The tooth may be fitted with a temporary crown until the permanent crown is fabricated and cemented into place.

What to Expect After Your Root Canal
After a root canal, your lips and gums may remain numb for a few hours until the anesthetic wears off. An antibiotic will be prescribed if your tooth was infected. If there is any discomfort, pain medicines, such as ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or a stronger prescription painkiller will be prescribed by your dentist.

Root Canal Illustration