Holidays are supposed to be a time of fun, food, and relaxation – a time to take a break from Sacramento and go explore the world. But there is nothing that can ruin a vacation faster than feeling a sharp pain in your tooth or an ache in your jaw and realizing that you have a dental emergency while you are away from home and away from your dentist. Dental emergencies can come in all different types – a chipped tooth, a loose crown, a searing toothache, or even broken braces.

If you have a dental emergency while you are away on vacation, you can often find an Emergency Dentist to visit, depending on where you are. An Emergency Dentist can help repair your tooth, re-attach your crown, and find the source of your pain and determine if actions such as a root canal or tooth extraction are required. If you are traveling somewhere remote, going abroad, or going for a wilderness adventure, finding an Emergency Dentist may be a bit tricky. In these cases, it is best to be prepared ahead of time with a Dental Emergency Kit. 

While it is possibly to buy a complete dental emergency kit, it is fairly easy and much cheaper to create one on your own. The first thing you want to include in your kit is a pain reliever such as Ibuprofen. If you are away from Sacramento and there is no Emergency Dentist available, you’ll want something to relieve the pain until you can get help. Similarly, you can purchase an anesthetic pain relief gel to put on your gums should you have a severe toothache. Applying the gel to aching gums can provide instant, albeit temporary, relief.

If you have crowns or fillings, you will definitely want to include temporary dental cement in your kit. This will be necessary should one of your crowns or fillings fall off. You can use the dental cement to re-attach the crown until you are able to either see an Emergency Dentist or return to Sacramento to see your dentist.

Of course, whenever you travel you will want to have your toothbrush, toothpaste, and dental floss. Sometimes dental pain can be solved simply by using floss to extract debris that is lodged between teeth or underneath the gum line. You would be surprised by how painful trapped debris can become if not removed, particularly if it causes irritation in the gums.

Please remember that a dental emergency kit is not the whole solution for a true dental emergency, only a way to give you some time before you are able to see an Emergency Dentist to help fix your dental emergency. Next time you go on vacation, be sure to pack your emergency dental kit. Have a safe and happy vacation!