Emergency Dental Care in Port of Spain

What counts as a dental emergency?

Call us the same day if you have any of the following:

• Severe or persistent toothache — especially pain that wakes you at night or does not settle with over-the-counter painkillers
• A knocked-out (avulsed) tooth — this is the most time-critical dental emergency there is. See what to do in the first hour
• A broken, chipped or cracked tooth, particularly with sharp edges or exposed nerve
• Swelling of the gum, jaw or face — this can indicate infection and should never be left
• A lost filling or crown leaving a sensitive or sharp surface
• Bleeding that does not stop after an extraction or injury
• An abscess — a painful pimple-like swelling on the gum, often with a bad taste

Go to a hospital, not a dental clinic, if you have facial swelling together with fever, difficulty breathing, or difficulty swallowing. Those signs mean an infection may be spreading and need urgent medical care.

What to do before you reach us

A few things genuinely change the outcome:

• Knocked-out adult tooth: handle it by the crown (the white part), never the root. Do not scrub it. If you can, place it gently back in the socket and bite on a clean cloth. If you cannot, keep it in milk — not water. Get to us within the hour if at all possible.
• Toothache: rinse with warm salt water and take your usual painkiller as directed on the packet. Do not place aspirin directly against the gum — it burns the tissue.
• Swelling: a cold compress on the outside of the cheek helps. Do not apply heat.
• Broken tooth: save any fragments in milk or saline and bring them with you.
• Bleeding: bite firmly on clean gauze or a cloth for 15 minutes without checking it repeatedly.

How to reach us fastest

For genuine emergencies, call the office on 622-6893 rather than messaging — a phone call gets a faster response during clinic hours. WhatsApp on 396-8447 works well for photographs of a broken tooth or swelling, which helps us prepare before you arrive.

We are open Monday to Friday from 7:00am to 4:00pm, and select Saturdays from 8:00am to 12:00pm.

Outside those hours

It is worth being straight about this: there is no 24-hour emergency dental service in Trinidad. You can still message us on WhatsApp at any time and we will answer as early as we can — sending a photograph overnight means we already know what we are dealing with when we open.

If you cannot wait, a hospital emergency department is the option — but understand what it will and will not do. It will help with pain relief and infection. It will not carry out dental treatment: no fillings, no root canals, no extractions in the ordinary course. The tooth itself still needs a dentist afterwards.

Go to a hospital straight away, without waiting, if there is facial swelling with fever, swelling spreading toward the eye or into the neck, or any difficulty breathing or swallowing. That is a medical emergency rather than a dental one — see my face is swollen.

What it costs

Emergency treatment cost depends entirely on what is causing the problem — settling an infection, rebuilding a broken tooth and treating an exposed nerve are very different pieces of work. We will always explain what is needed and what it costs before we begin any treatment.

Message us on WhatsApp and we will give you a clear idea of the likely cost for your situation.