Tallahassee, FL Same-Day Emergency Dental Care
Urgent Dental Care Near You
Looking for an emergency dentist near you? Look no further. When it comes to dental emergencies time is of the essence, which is why we offer same-day emergency appointments to get you out of pain and on with your life.
Dental emergencies rarely keep office hours, and we know it. If something happens outside ours, call or text us at 850-404-7462 — we will help you manage it where we can and get you in as soon as the next business day.
Do not let a dental emergency disrupt your life. Call us now and we will find you a time today.
Call Us Before You Go to the Emergency Room
Most hospitals are not equipped to treat tooth problems. An emergency room can give you antibiotics and something for the pain, but the tooth causing it will still be there in the morning, and you will have paid an emergency room’s price to be told to see a dentist.
Calling McQuary Dental first usually saves you both the time and the money. And if you are not sure whether what you have counts as an emergency, call anyway — we are happy to assess it over the phone and tell you honestly whether you need to be seen today or whether it can wait for a routine appointment.
Go straight to an emergency room or call 911 instead if there is uncontrolled bleeding, a suspected broken jaw, or swelling that is affecting your breathing, your swallowing or your vision. Those need a hospital, not a dental chair.
What to Do Right Now
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Call Us First
Before anything else, pick up the phone. What you should do in the next twenty minutes depends on what has actually happened, and two minutes on the line will tell you — as well as getting you into the schedule while there is still room in the day.
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Manage Pain and Swelling
Rinse gently with warm salt water and hold a cold compress against the outside of your cheek in twenty-minute stretches. Take ordinary pain relief as the packet directs. Never hold an aspirin or any tablet against the gum — it burns the tissue and does nothing for the tooth.
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A Knocked-Out Tooth: Keep It Moist
Pick the tooth up by the crown, never the root, and do not scrub it clean. Keep it moist in milk or in your own saliva — an adult tooth can sometimes be placed back in its socket and held there on the way to us. Time matters more here than with anything else on this page, so call while you are doing it.
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A Loose or Broken Tooth: Leave It Alone
Do not wiggle a loose tooth or push on it to test it; every movement makes saving it harder. If a tooth has chipped or broken, collect the pieces, rinse your mouth with warm water and bring them with you. Chew on the other side until we have seen it.
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A Lost Crown or Filling: Keep the Piece
Put the crown somewhere safe and bring it in — often it can simply be re-cemented. Keep the exposed tooth clean, avoid very hot or cold food on that side, and do not try to stick it back with household glue of any kind. Dental wax from a pharmacy is fine as a temporary cover.
Emergencies We Treat
We offer a comprehensive range of emergency dental services and use modern technology to diagnose quickly and treat properly the first time. Our dentists are experienced in dealing with all of the following.
Toothache
A toothache ranges from a dull, persistent ache to a sharp, intense pain, and it is disruptive out of all proportion to its size. Treatment starts with finding out what is causing it — decay reaching the nerve, a crack, an infection, sometimes a problem that is not the tooth at all. We relieve the pain and then deal with the cause, rather than sending you away with painkillers and a follow-up.
Cracked, Chipped or Broken Tooth
A damaged tooth exposes its inner layers, which means sensitivity, pain and a real risk of infection if it is left. Seeing us quickly matters: early treatment stops the crack traveling and gives the repair a far better chance of holding. Depending on the damage, that repair might be a bonded filling, a crown, or in the worst cases root canal treatment to save the tooth.
Swelling or Abscess
An abscess is a pocket of pus beside a tooth caused by bacterial infection, and it announces itself with severe pain, swelling, redness and sometimes a fever. It will not clear on its own. Treatment drains and deals with the infection underneath, and exactly what that involves depends on where the abscess is and how far it has gone — which is why the same-day appointment matters.
Lost Filling or Crown
Losing a restoration leaves the tooth beneath it exposed to decay, sensitivity and further damage, and the teeth beside it start to shift into the space. Replacing it promptly keeps bacteria out, restores the tooth’s strength and keeps your bite where it belongs. We offer same-day crowns, so in many cases this is dealt with completely in one visit rather than patched and rebooked.
Knocked-Out or Loose Tooth
Prompt action is critical. Keep a knocked-out tooth moist in milk or saliva and come straight in; do not wiggle a loose one or put any force on it. Early treatment is what makes the difference between saving that tooth and replacing it, and we will tell you straight away which of the two we are looking at.
Gum Pain
Painful gums can point to gum disease, an infection or inflammation with a cause elsewhere. A proper evaluation finds the reason rather than treating the symptom; in more advanced cases that may mean periodontal therapy or root canal treatment. Do not ignore it — gum pain that has lasted more than a day or two is your mouth telling you something.
Emergency Tooth Extraction
Extraction is a last resort, used when restorative treatment cannot save the tooth. The common reasons are:
- Extensive dental decay
- A failed root canal
- A cracked or fractured tooth
- An antibiotic-resistant infection
- Risk of infection spreading to the bloodstream
- Dental damage beyond repair
- Overcrowded teeth
- Impacted wisdom teeth
Being told a tooth has to come out is unwelcome news, and we treat it that way. Our team uses gentle techniques and modern technology so the extraction itself is comfortable and the risk of complications is low, and we will talk through how to replace the tooth before we go ahead — dental implants, a bridge or a denture each have their place, and you should know what they involve before the tooth is gone rather than afterwards.
Paying for Emergency Treatment
Nobody plans for this, and cost should not be the reason you sit at home with a swollen face.
No Insurance? No Problem
Patients who would rather spread the cost over affordable monthly payments can apply for financing through a third-party provider. Applying is quick, the decision is instant, and treatment can go ahead straight away. Call us at 850-404-7462 and ask for our insurance coordinator, who will explain the options. Our in-house membership plan is the other route — it takes 20% off procedures completed at our practice and includes your exams and cleanings for the year.
Have Insurance? We Have You Covered
We are in-network with the following providers:
- Ameritas
- Aetna
- Humana
- Cigna
- UnitedHealthcare
- Guardian
- National Elevator
- Beam
- MetLife
- GEHA
- Sun Life
- United Concordia
- Principal
We also accept all PPO insurances and are happy to bill your plan on your behalf so you get the full benefit you have paid for. Please note that we do not accept Medicare or Medicaid.
How to Avoid a Dental Emergency
Some of them are pure bad luck. A good number are not:
- Wear a Mouthguard — if you play sports, wear one. A single collision on a field or a court is all it takes to chip or lose a tooth, and a guard costs a fraction of what replacing that tooth does.
- Think Before You Bite — teeth are tough, but hard candy, ice and hard cuts of meat chip and crack them more easily than people expect.
- Do Not Chew Anything That Is Not Food — nails, pen caps and bottle tops break teeth. Sugar-free gum is a useful substitute; it also stimulates saliva, which helps clean the teeth.
- Keep Your Check-Ups — most emergencies we see were visible on an x-ray long before they became painful. A cracked cusp or a leaking old filling caught at a routine exam is a small appointment; the same tooth at 11pm on a Saturday is not.
Frequently Asked Questions Emergency Dentist in Tallahassee, FL
Call us the same day if you have any of these:
- Toothache
- Swelling or an abscess
- A broken or chipped tooth
- A lost filling or crown
- A knocked-out or loose tooth
- A badly bitten tongue or lip
If what you have is not on that list and you are unsure, call anyway. We would far rather tell you it can wait than have you sit on something that cannot.
That is the whole point of keeping emergency time in the diary. Call us or request an appointment online and we will do our best to get you in today, whatever the emergency is.
The earlier in the day you call, the more room there is to work with — so call as soon as you know something is wrong rather than waiting to see whether it settles by evening.
Emergencies do not wait for office hours, and your comfort matters to us, so we make ourselves available after hours to help you manage the problem before you come in. Call or text us at 850-404-7462.
To be straight with you about what that means: after hours we can advise you, help you control the pain and swelling, and get you into the schedule as soon as the next business day. Treatment itself happens at the practice.
Call us right away or request an appointment online. There is nothing worse than seeing your child in pain, and we provide same-day treatment and after-hours help for children exactly as we do for adults.
If a baby tooth has been knocked out, do not try to put it back — bring it with you and let us look. A knocked-out adult tooth is the opposite: keep it moist in milk and come straight in, because the clock genuinely matters.
Yes. If a tooth is badly infected, broken beyond repair or extremely loose from trauma, an emergency extraction may be the right answer, and we would rather do it properly today than leave you in pain.
We will always tell you first whether the tooth can be saved, because in a fair number of cases it can. If it cannot, we will go through how to replace it before anything is done.
Come and see us as soon as you can — one of our dentists can give you treatment and, where appropriate, medication that brings both the pain and the swelling down.
Until then: a cold compress against the cheek in twenty-minute stretches, warm salt water rinses, ordinary pain relief as directed, and sleeping propped up rather than flat. Swelling that spreads towards the eye or the throat, or that makes breathing or swallowing difficult, is a hospital matter — go to an emergency room.
Because waiting rarely improves any of the three things that matter. A tooth that has been knocked out, fractured or partially dislodged can often be saved if it is dealt with quickly, and permanently lost if it is not. Pain gets worse rather than better, since what is causing it carries on. And an infection that stays untreated can spread beyond the mouth and become a serious medical problem.
Pain that fades after a few days is not always good news either — sometimes it means the nerve has died, and the infection is still there. If something has changed in your mouth, have it looked at.