Emergency Dentist in Knoxville: Same-Day Appointments and What to Do Right Now

A dental emergency needs same-day care when you have a knocked-out tooth, uncontrolled bleeding, facial swelling, or pain you can't manage. If you need an emergency dentist in Knoxville, Knox Valley Dental keeps room in the schedule for same-day emergency appointments for patients in Farragut, Concord, Lenoir City, and greater Knoxville. Call (865) 244-2828, and we'll tell you what to do next.

Same-Day Help, Right Now

We can see you today. Knox Valley Dental keeps emergency appointments open, so you don’t have to wait days for help with a cracked tooth or a swollen jaw. Call (865) 244-2828 and let the front desk know what happened. If you’re in the middle of an emergency, keep reading for steps to take while you call.

Call now: (865) 244-2828 Knox Valley Dental • 11840 Kingston Pike, Suite A, Knoxville, TN 37934

Is This a Dental Emergency?

You have a dental emergency if you have a knocked-out tooth, swelling in your face or gums, bleeding that won’t stop, or pain so strong it keeps you awake. These problems get worse if you wait. Other issues are still important, but they can usually wait until the next business day.

Call right now

• Knocked-out adult tooth (the clock is the whole game here)
• Facial or gum swelling, especially with a fever or swelling spreading toward your neck
• Bleeding that won't stop after 10 to 15 minutes of gentle pressure
• Severe, throbbing pain that over-the-counter medicine isn't touching
• A broken tooth with a sharp edge or exposed nerve

Usually can wait until morning

• A small chip with no pain
• A lost filling or crown that isn't painful (keep the crown if you have it)
• A dull ache that eases with pain relievers
• Food stuck that you can gently floss out

There is one important exception: if swelling reaches your eye or neck, or if you have trouble breathing or swallowing, a dental office is not the right place. Go to the emergency room. The American Dental Association also recommends the ER for a possible broken jaw.

What to Do Before You Get Here

For most dental emergencies, your main goals are to stay calm, protect the tooth, and manage pain until you arrive. Here’s first aid for the five most common problems, based on advice from the ADA and Mayo Clinic.

Knocked-out tooth

Move fast, and handle the tooth the right way. A permanent tooth has the best chance of being saved when it's back in place within 30 to 60 minutes, according to the American Association of Endodontists.

1. Pick it up by the crown (the white chewing part), never the root.
2. If it's dirty, rinse it gently with milk or saline for a second or two. Don't scrub it, and skip tap water.
3. Try to place it back in the socket the right way around, then bite gently on gauze to hold it.
4. If it won't go back in, keep it moist in a cup of milk or tucked in your cheek. Milk protects the root cells better than water.
5. Get to us right away. Bring the tooth. Do not try to reinsert a child's baby tooth, since that can hurt the adult tooth underneath.

Cracked or broken tooth

Rinse your mouth with warm water to clean the area, then use a cold compress on your cheek to reduce swelling. Save any broken pieces and bring them with you. If there’s a sharp edge, cover it with dental wax or sugar-free gum to protect your tongue until you get here.

Severe toothache

Gently rinse your mouth with warm water and floss to remove anything stuck between your teeth. The ADA warns not to put aspirin on your gum or tooth, as it can burn the tissue. Take pain medicine as usual and use a cold compress on your cheek.

Lost crown or filling

Protect the exposed tooth. A bare tooth is open to infection and can turn sharply sensitive to hot and cold. If you still have the crown, keep it in a safe spot and bring it. Over-the-counter dental cement or even a dab of sugar-free gum can cover the gap for a short while, but that's a stopgap, not a fix.

Abscess or swelling

Treat facial swelling as urgent. A small swollen bump on the gum or a puffy area on your face can be an abscess, an infection that spreads. Rinse with mild salt water for temporary relief and call us the same day. If the swelling is spreading, you have a fever, or it's getting hard to swallow, that's an ER situation, not a wait-and-see one.

What a Same-Day Emergency Visit Involves

The first job is to get you out of pain and stabilize the tooth, not to fix everything at once. When you arrive, we take a focused look at the problem area, usually with a quick X-ray, so we can see what's happening below the surface. This is a limited, problem-focused exam, which is different from a full checkup; it zeroes in on the tooth that brought you in.

From there, the aim is relief and a plan. That might mean numbing the area, draining an infection, smoothing a sharp edge, or placing a temporary cover so you can get through the next few days comfortably. Bigger work like a root canal, crown, or extraction is mapped out clearly, with the cost explained before anything moves forward. If dental anxiety is part of why you've been putting off care, tell us; Knox Valley Dental offers nitrous oxide, oral conscious sedation, and IV sedation, so an urgent visit is far easier to sit through.

What Does an Emergency Visit Cost?

The exam itself is usually the small part; the treatment behind it drives the total. A limited, problem-focused emergency exam commonly runs somewhere in the $50 to $120 range before any treatment, based on national fee data. What you pay overall depends on what the tooth needs. Here's a grounded look, using national average figures from CareCredit's 2024 cost research.