Office Protocol

West Valley Pediatric Dentistry will provide emergency dental care for all individuals during regular business hours. After hours dental care is provided 24-hour a day, 7-day a week, including holidays; exclusively for patients of record. Unfortunately we are unable to provide after hours emergency care from all of our office locations. Therefore, we apologize in advance for any inconvenience, but may request that you travel to another West Valley location should an office visit be needed in such instances.

During Business Emergencies. We do not set aside “emergency time” during regular operating hours. Should your child suffer a dental emergency during typical business hours (7:30 am – 4:30 pm), please immediately contact the office closest to your home and we will promptly triage the injury. Once an attending doctor is able to review your child’s emergency, we will either provide over-the-phone recommendations or will provide you with an appointment depending upon your child’s specific symptoms. We truly appreciate your understanding and flexibility when attempting to schedule your child’s dental emergency, as openings may be very limited.

Occasionally treating a dental emergency will cause us to run slightly late with our regularly scheduled patients. When this occurs, we apologize to all our patients, request your understanding, and will do our best to keep you informed.

After-Hour Emergencies. Should our office not be open, an on-call staff member and doctor can be reached 24-hours a day by activating the office’s emergency paging system. Should you get a voice message, please leave a detailed message within the emergency mailbox when prompted. If you don’t hear back within 20-minutes, please immediately contact the paging system again, until you reach a live representative. We would also appreciate if parents could have their family’s pharmacy telephone number available, as the on-call doctor regularly uses this information to prescribe medications to help with certain symptoms.

Direct Office Extensions

WVPD at Anthem 623.551.2992
WVPD of Litchfield Park 623.935.4808
WVPD of Surprise 623.474.2975

Management of Common Dental Emergencies

Knowing how to handle a dental emergency can mean the difference between saving and losing your child’s tooth. Here are some helpful tips:

Knocked-Out Permanent Tooth. Keep the tooth moist at all times. Hold the tooth by the crown, and if the tooth is dirty, rinse it in water. Do not scrub the tooth or remove any attached tissue fragments. The tooth must not be left outside the mouth to dry. If possible, gently insert and hold the tooth in its socket. If it cannot be replaced in the socket, put it in one of the following: (1.) emergency tooth preservation kit, (2.) milk, (3.) mouth (next to the cheek), (4.) if none of these are available, use water with a pinch of salt.

Bring the patient (and don’t forget the tooth!) to the pediatric dental office as soon as possible. If this accident occurred after normal business hours, immediately activate the emergency on-call service to obtain specific instructions. Ideally, this tooth needs to be reimplanted as soon as possible.

Knocked-Out Primary Tooth. Because primary teeth have a poor posts-implantation prognosis, these teeth are not reimplanted into the mouth. Long-term studies have shown that reimplantation of these teeth routinely cause infection and possible damage to the developing permanent tooth. We do, however, recommend that you contact your pediatric dental office to notify them of this injury. Normally a routine visit will be scheduled to x-ray the avulsion site to ensure the entire tooth actually came out.

Cracked or Broken Tooth. Rinse the mouth with warm water to clean the area. Put cold compresses on the face to keep any swelling down. Take your child to see a dentist right away. If possible, take the broken tooth fragment with you. Though this fragment is normally not used to repair the tooth, it can provide some additional information as to the type of injury that was sustained to the tooth.

Possible Jaw Fracture. Immediately apply cold compresses to help control any swelling. Contact or take your child toyour pediatric dentist or a hospital emergency department immediately.

Object Caught Between the Teeth. Gently try to remove the object with dental floss. If your not successful, contact your dentist more additional advise. Do not try to remove the object with a sharp or pointed instrument as this can cause additional damage to the teeth and surrounding tissues.

Toothache. Rinse the mouth with warm salt water to clean out any loose debris. Gently use dental floss to remove any food caught between the teeth. Do not put aspirin on the aching tooth or gum tissues. Analgesics such as Tylenol or Motrin can be used to alleviate any pain. Take your child to visit the pediatric dental office or if not during normal business hours, activate the emergency paging system. It is important that you have a pharmacy telephone number available, as the doctor will routinely call in antibiotic or pain medications.

Bitten Tongue or Lip. Clean the area gently with a moist cloth and put a cold compress on the area to minimize the swelling. If bleeding is excessive or does not stop after a few minutes of pressure, take your child to a hospital emergency room or your pediatric dental office.