Christmas and New Year is a time for celebration and gatherings of family, friends and colleagues. How can we forget staying up a bit late, tons of good food and a couple of drinks too?
Over the last few years, the Specialist Dental Group team have encountered a few interesting emergency situations as a result of the holiday season celebrations.
Some of these dental emergencies have arisen from the following situations:
- Accidents from over-consumption of alcohol
We have experienced being called to attend to dental emergencies as a result of people walking into glass doors after a night of drinking! There was once a case where this elegant young couple in the middle of the night because the pretty lady was a little drunk and she hit the glass door after losing her balance on her stiletto shoes.
In cases like that, the net outcome is usually as follows – the reinforced glass door stays intact and the teeth, lips, and, sometimes even the nose, get the brunt of the damage!! We have certainly stitched up enough lips and fixed many teeth as a result of that!
- Eating-related incidents
Good food usually are those foods which are ‘rare,’ i.e., special occasion delicacies. Turkey, ham, nuts, chocolates alike are great for our palate but they are challenges to our teeth. On more than one occasion, we have had people showing up on an emergency basis because they had their teeth chipped due to biting hard nuts, nutshells, and hidden pieces of bone in a big chunk of turkey! Veneers and braces have also been known to be dislodged due to the food being consumed.
After the holiday season, we also have people coming in with gum problems. Overworked teeth and gums combined with less time for tooth brushing is an almost perfect formula for acute periodontal abscesses!
- Dental pain
It is not uncommon to receive a frantic call or email on the eve of the holiday to the effect that the person is in unbearable pain and needs to have urgent treatment… but all the dental clinics in town are either closed for the holiday or it is after office hours.
In these cases, the issue is usually either a root canal flare up, or an infected and impacted wisdom tooth. One incident is that of a young lady who was in Germany for the Christmas and New Year holiday several years ago when she had a root canal infection. All the dental clinics in the German city were closed from Christmas eve to the Boxing Day holiday. She was popping pain-killers every three hours and looking for relief. As she was a family friend, she emailed and asked if we could assist. The staff explored the possibility of couriering medication over to her but it would have taken too long with the holiday season. In the end, she cut short her trip and flew to Singapore to have root canal treatment. She was pain-free and ready to party well before New Year’s Eve!
One pattern that have been observed over the years is that when it comes to dental emergencies during the holiday season, there is no pattern at all – anything and everything can happen. As a result, we try to ensure that at least one member of our dental team is available to stand by should a dental emergency arise during the holiday season.
Nonetheless, we always hope for a peaceful and incident-free festive period for our patients and hardworking team alike. Wishing all our colleagues warm holiday greetings and a Happy and Healthy 2013!
You can visit our website www.specialistdentalgroup.com for more information on any dental related topics.
