Where to go instead, for now
If you have a regular dentist, call them first. Most practices keep some capacity for urgent problems and many have after-hours instructions on their voicemail.
If you do not have a dentist, or you are visiting the area, a hospital emergency department can address infection, swelling, bleeding, and pain, and it is the right place for anything involving breathing, swallowing, or a facial injury. Urgent care centres can often help with pain and infection but do not usually provide dental treatment.
The Delaware State Dental Society and the American Dental Association both publish directories that can help you find a dentist accepting urgent cases.
General first-aid guidance while you arrange care
The following is general information, not advice about your specific situation, and it is not a substitute for being examined.
Toothache
Rinse with warm salt water and keep the area clean. Over-the-counter pain relief taken according to the packaging may help, provided it is appropriate for you and does not conflict with your medications or medical conditions. Do not place aspirin directly against the gum, which can burn the tissue. A toothache that keeps you awake, or one accompanied by swelling or fever, needs to be seen promptly.
Broken or chipped tooth
Rinse your mouth with warm water and keep any pieces. A cold compress on the outside of the cheek can reduce swelling. Avoid chewing on that side.
Knocked-out permanent tooth
Time matters. Handle the tooth by the crown, not the root. If it is dirty, rinse it briefly with milk or saline rather than scrubbing it. If you can, reposition it gently into the socket and bite on a clean cloth to hold it. If not, keep it in milk or in the injured person’s saliva and seek care immediately.
Lost filling or crown
Keep the crown if you have it. Avoid chewing on that side and keep the area clean. Temporary dental cement from a pharmacy may protect the tooth briefly, but it is a stopgap rather than a repair.
Swelling
Facial swelling associated with a tooth can indicate an infection that needs prompt treatment. Swelling that is spreading, that affects the eye or the floor of the mouth, or that comes with difficulty breathing or swallowing, is an emergency. Call 911.
What we will offer once we open
A dentist who can help when something goes wrong is a genuinely useful thing for a resort community to have, and it is part of why this location was chosen. Emergency care is planned for both patients of record and for visitors who need help while they are at the shore.
Our confirmed emergency policy, including hours, how to reach us, after-hours arrangements, and whether we can see patients who are not of record, will be published on this page before we open. Until it is, please treat this page as a redirection to other care rather than an offer of our own.