Oral diseases emergency care

• From Monday to Friday, please contact dental care services in your wellbeing services area or the City of Helsinki.
• In the evenings and on weekends, call 09 471 71110 before seeking assistance from the emergency dental care services.
• At night, call the Medical Helpline at 116 117.

We will assess the urgency of the need for treatment on the phone.

When should I seek help at the emergency dental care services?

Please seek emergency dental care if you have:

• increasing swelling, redness, and pain
• limited opening of the mouth (less than the width of two fingers between the front teeth)
• difficulty swallowing. 

Other situations requiring emergency care include

• dental trauma (detachment, displacement or accidental chipping of a permanent tooth)
• an accident involving a primary tooth where the teeth cannot be clenched together
• a broken, permanently fitted orthodontic device that is causing sharp pain, and the pain cannot be alleviated by using chewing gum or orthodontic wax. Or the sharp pain caused by the orthodontic device has resulted in bleeding which cannot be stopped by applying compression (also at night if necessary)  
• bleeding from the mouth after a tooth extraction or other procedure which will not stop within two hours by means of instructions received from the Medical Helpline
• severe pain that does not respond to pain relief medication
• general symptoms associated with dental and oral diseases (such as fever)
• a symptom of the jaw joint where the mouth will not open or close
• a chipped tooth with any of the following symptoms: swelling, limited opening of the mouth, or pain relief medication will not alleviate the pain
• dentures have caused a painful pressure sore.