What actually helps before you are seen

Holding measures. They keep things from getting worse and they buy you the time to get here.

  • A knocked-out adult tooth is the exception to calling first. Hold it by the crown, rinse it in milk if it is dirty without scrubbing, put it back in the socket and bite on a cloth if you can. If you cannot, keep it in milk and get to the nearest available dental or emergency care now.
  • Broken tooth. Rinse with warm water, cold pack on the outside of the cheek, keep any fragments, stop chewing on that side entirely.
  • Lost crown or filling. Keep the crown. Never use household adhesive on it. Expect sensitivity to cold and air until it is covered again.
  • Toothache. Whatever over-the-counter pain relief you already know is safe for you. Never hold an aspirin against the gum, which burns the tissue and does nothing for the tooth.
  • Something wedged between two teeth. Floss carefully. Never a pin, a knife point or anything metal.

What you will be asked on the phone

What happened and when. Whether there is swelling and whether it is spreading. Whether the pain wakes you at night. Whether hot, cold or biting makes it worse. Whether anything makes it better. Those five answers sort a lost filling from an abscess very quickly.

Then say you are coming from Mariposa. That tells us how long you need and whether a space should be held. If we cannot see you today, you will hear that on the phone rather than after an hour on Highway 49, along with what to do in the meantime.

Questions people ask when they call

I am not a patient here. Does that matter?

Call anyway. Being new means paperwork rather than a closed door.

Will it be fixed in one visit?

Getting you out of pain and stabilizing the tooth comes first. Rebuilding it properly may be a second appointment, particularly if a crown or root canal treatment is involved. Say you are traveling and it will be taken into account.

It happened Friday evening. What now?

Keep the area clean, stay off that side, and call first thing Monday describing it as an emergency. If swelling or fever develops over the weekend, that is a medical problem and it does not wait.

The route from Mariposa

Highway 49 runs southeast out of Mariposa through the hills and comes into Oakhurst, where it meets Highway 41. Road 426 branches off in town. It is one road most of the way, which makes the timing easy to predict once you have done it once.

All of it happens at one address, 49414 Road 426 in Oakhurst. There is no second location, and the hours are Monday to Wednesday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm and Thursday 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.

The clinical detail without the travel notes is on the dental emergencies page. Everything else written for this community is on the Mariposa page.