Private dental pain out of hours clinic in London, same-day GP.

Finding an emergency dentist

• Contact your own dentist first — most practices have an out-of-hours message with arrangements.
• If you do not have a dentist, or cannot reach yours, call NHS 111, which can direct you to an urgent dental service.
• Emergency departments do not have dentists and cannot treat teeth. They manage spreading infection and facial trauma only.

Controlling the pain until you are seen

• Paracetamol and ibuprofen taken together, each at its normal dose, is considerably more effective for dental pain than either alone. Check both suit you.
• Take them regularly by the clock rather than waiting for the pain to peak.
• Rinse with warm salty water — half a teaspoon of salt in a glass of warm water, several times a day.
• Clove oil on a cotton bud applied to the tooth gives short-lived relief for some people.
• Avoid very hot, very cold, sweet or hard foods, and chew on the other side.
• Sleep with your head raised, which reduces throbbing.
• Never hold an aspirin against the gum — it burns the tissue and does not help the tooth.

A knocked-out tooth

Time matters enormously here — a permanent tooth reimplanted within the hour has a good chance of surviving.

1. Pick the tooth up by the crown — the chewing part — never by the root.
2. Do not scrub it or use soap or disinfectant. If dirty, rinse briefly in milk or saliva.
3. Put it back into the socket if you can, the right way round, and bite gently on a clean cloth to hold it.
4. If you cannot reimplant it, keep it in milk, or in the person's own saliva inside the cheek if they are old enough not to swallow it. Never store it in water.
5. Get to a dentist immediately.

What we can help with

• assessing and treating spreading facial infection, including antibiotics and urgent referral
• pain relief where over-the-counter medicines are not enough
• checking whether facial pain is actually dental — sinus infection, jaw joint problems, shingles and nerve pain are all mistaken for toothache
• reviewing whether an infection has settled after dental treatment
• a sick note if dental pain has kept you from work