What To Do When You Get A Toothache While On Vacation?

Toothache

Vacationing is to have fun and to relax and get refreshed from the everyday stress of life. Last thing on your mind when planning for a vacation is a toothache or a dental emergency. When you call your travel agent, you will not surely ask about the accessibility of dental clinic within the vicinity of your location. However, toothache can occur when you should have been enjoying your time. What will you do if you are in a strange land and having a toothache?

Tips on traveling

Travelers and vacationers must be ready for dental emergencies like having a toothache or an injury to the teeth while on vacation. This will make your stay on an unknown territory uncomfortable and at times, unbearable. Here are some tips when planning a vacation:

• Know the place. Yes, this would be a big adventure because this will be most likely the first time that you will be coming to this place. Have at least an overview on what to expect. Chances are, you might get surprised in a negative way.

 

• Have a check up. Your dentist knows about your teeth condition.  Before you go secure your physical and dental health. Ask your dentist to clean your teeth and restore all that needs to be done. You might not find a good dentist in your vacation destination that is as good as your dentist. The key is trust. You have built a trust relationship with your dentist and you know that he or she cares for your well being and does good work. Also make sure your dentist knows that you will be traveling so that a more involved treatment that you need, may need to be done before you go to prevent any dental emergencies or maybe can be postponed.

 

• Bring dental care necessities. Bring your own toothpaste. Mouth rinse is also as important as tooth brush and not to mention floss. The products that you are used to may not be available in your vacation getaway especially when you are travelling out of the country.

 

• If a toothache occurs, first rinse your mouth with warm water. Use dental floss to make sure there are no food or any other objects logged between your teeth or your gums. Take an over-the-counter pain medication like Motrin or Advil, which are also anti-inflammatory. (if for some medical reason you cannot take ibuprofens, then you may have to stick to Tylenol.  You can also use pain relieving gels like Anbesol; do not rub aspirin on your gums. These pain relievers will help with almost any dental emergency.

 

• You can also use some home remedies like clove oil and peppermint tea. Put a drop of clove oil on the tooth that hurts and it will calm it down. With peppermint tea, you can swish it around your mouth and then swallow. You can also use a warm, wet tea bag and apply it to your tooth. Ginseng also has pain relieving effects for your gums

Planning your vacation ahead of time will make it more fun. When you prepare your things, you should also want to prepare your body for it. Going to the dentist to ensure your teeth and gums are healthy is one way of making your vacation fun and fulfilling and preventing any dental emergency. You can also go to our post about home remedies for a toothache.

Here is a video on what to do with dental emergencies while on vacation:

By: Ladan Zinati