The need for dental work can strike at any time, even if it's inopportune for you. There's perhaps no worse time to have a dental problem like a crown fall off just before you head out of town. If this has happened to you, you need to get it fixed as quickly as possible. Even a same day dental crown can help. Keep reading to learn exactly what you should do if you find yourself in this situation.

Preserve It

If your dental crown fell off and you know where it is, make sure to keep it safe and to bring it with you to the dentist's office. In some cases, when crowns are undamaged but the cement holding them in place broke down, dentists can re-use the same crown to repair your tooth. This can save you a lot of money, so it's worth hanging onto the crown.

To keep the crown safe, make sure to put it into a sealable container. While a tissue can work in a pinch, it's easy to lose a small dental device like a crown if it's not carefully contained.

Clean Area

Next, make sure that your mouth is as clean as you can make it. Depending on how deeply your tooth was drilled before you received your crown, you may not be able to brush your teeth right now. However, you can still make an effort to protect the tooth from infection while you're waiting to see a dentist.

To do this, start with simply rinsing out your mouth. Don't swallow the water; there may be fragments of dental cement that have broken loose and you don't want to eat them. Spit it out into a cup or the sink. Use room-temperature or warm water to help reduce the risk of nerve pain in your tooth.

See Emergency Dentist

While getting a crown fixed quickly isn't necessarily the easiest thing for your usual dentist's office, emergency dentists specialize in these kinds of fixes. If you go to an office with same day crown repair, you should be able to make your trip without having to delay it or cancel it entirely.

If need be, your dentist may install a temporary crown to cover the damage while you're on your trip. This will allow you to eat and drink safely without causing further damage to your tooth, but it's not a permanent fix. You'll need to return to the dentist's office once you get home.

Getting dental care in a hurry sometimes isn't an easy task. If you think you need a dental crown replacement in 24 hours or less, seek out a same day emergency dentist.