Emergency Dentist in Townsville and Bohle Plains

If you are reading this in pain, ring first and read afterwards. We hold time aside each day at both our Townsville clinics for urgent problems, and the earlier in the day you call, the more of it is still available.

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Go to a Hospital, Not a Dentist, If

Some things that feel like dental problems are not ones a dental chair can safely deal with. Do not wait for us, and do not wait until morning, if there is:

• Facial swelling, particularly if it is spreading towards the eye or down into the neck.
• Any difficulty breathing or swallowing.
• Bleeding that will not stop with firm pressure.
• An injury involving more than the teeth, such as a blow to the head, a suspected broken jaw, or loss of consciousness.

Go to your nearest hospital emergency department, or call 000. A spreading dental infection is a medical emergency, and people underestimate it because it started as a toothache.

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First Aid Before You Get Here

Knocked-out adult tooth. Minutes matter. Hold it by the crown, not the root. Rinse gently in milk or saline if it is dirty, and do not scrub. Put it back in the socket if you can and hold it there. If you cannot, keep it in milk or in the person’s own saliva inside their cheek. Ring on the way. Do not replant a child’s baby tooth.

Broken or chipped tooth. Keep any pieces, rinse your mouth with warm water, and use a cold compress on the outside of the face for swelling. If a sharp edge is cutting your tongue, dental wax or sugar-free gum over it will do until you are seen.

Toothache. Over-the-counter pain relief as directed on the packet, and a cold compress. Never hold an aspirin against the gum: it burns the tissue and does nothing for the tooth.

Lost filling or crown. Keep the crown, do not glue it back with anything from a hardware shop, and avoid chewing on that side.

Bleeding after an extraction. Bite firmly on clean gauze or a rolled handkerchief for twenty minutes without checking it. If it soaks through repeatedly, ring us or go to an emergency department.

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Why Antibiotics Alone Are Not the Answer

People often get a course of antibiotics somewhere, feel better, and think it is over. Antibiotics can knock an infection back, but they do not treat the tooth that caused it. A nerve that has died stays dead, and the infection generally comes back, usually at a less convenient moment and often worse.

At both clinics the tooth itself can be dealt with. Root canal treatment is done in house, extractions including surgical ones are done on site, and cone beam CT imaging means an abscess or a cracked root is diagnosed properly rather than guessed at. Complex surgical cases are handled at these two clinics too, rather than referred to Brisbane.

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What Happens at the Appointment

The first job is to get you comfortable. After that we work out what is actually going on, using an examination and imaging rather than a guess, and tell you what the options are.

Sometimes the whole thing is settled that day. Sometimes the sensible plan is to relieve the pain and stabilise things now and do the definitive work at a booked appointment, which is a legitimate answer rather than a stalling tactic. Either way you are told which one you are getting, and what it costs, before it happens.

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Being Seen in Kirwan and Bohle Plains

The Kirwan clinic is on Thuringowa Drive, near The Willows. The Bohle Plains clinic is in the Kalynda Chase estate, in Townsville’s western growth corridor. Both hold urgent time each day, so if one is full the other may not be. Ring the closer one first and say what is happening.

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Other Emergencies We See

Wisdom tooth pain. A sore, swollen gum at the back of the mouth, sometimes with a bad taste or difficulty opening wide, often means a wisdom tooth that is only partly through and trapping food. Rinse gently with warm salty water, keep the area clean and ring us. Wisdom teeth, including surgical removal, are dealt with at both clinics.

A cracked or fractured tooth. A crack does not always hurt all the time. Pain when you bite down, or a sharp jolt when you let go, is worth being seen for before the crack travels deeper. Avoid chewing on that side until you are seen.

Braces and aligner problems. A wire that is poking into your cheek can be covered with orthodontic wax until you are seen. A broken bracket or a cracked aligner is often not urgent, but ring us and we will tell you whether it can wait.

A broken denture. Do not glue it. Keep every piece and ring us first. Denture repairs and relines are arranged through our dental lab, so it helps to call early.

Sports injuries. A knock to the mouth is worth checking even when nothing looks broken. Custom sports mouthguards are available at both clinics.

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Emergencies in Children

Children fall, collide and chew things they should not, and a knocked or chipped tooth is stressful for everyone in the room. A baby tooth that has come out should not be put back. For a permanent tooth, follow the first aid above and ring us on the way. Either way, a child who has had a knock to the mouth should be checked, because damage to the gum or to the tooth underneath is not always visible.

Where a child is eligible for the Child Dental Benefits Schedule, we bulk bill it at both clinics. Whether a particular treatment is covered depends on the schedule. The Bohle Plains clinic has a kids’ play corner.

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At Each Clinic

The two clinics offer the same treatments, so choosing between them is mostly a question of which is closer. What they share, and the few things that differ:

• At both clinics: urgent time held each day, root canal treatment and surgical extractions on site, cone beam CT imaging, on-site parking, and a periodontist who consults at both. Hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm.
• Languages: Hindi, Punjabi and Nepali are spoken across our clinics, and Dr Pa Sia, who works at both Kirwan and Bohle Plains, speaks Hmong. Who is rostered varies by day, so ask when you ring. There is more on our languages page.
• Bohle Plains: inside the Kalynda Chase estate, with a kids’ play corner. The imaging unit there is a Dentsply Sirona Orthophos XG 3D.
• Kirwan: on Thuringowa Drive, near The Willows.

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Who We See Around Kirwan and Bohle Plains

Bohle Plains is one of Townsville’s youngest suburbs: the median age is 28, against 38 across Queensland, and 48.5% of local families are couples with children. Defence is the largest employer of Bohle Plains residents, at 18.2%, and we see DVA card holders at both clinics.

Kirwan is one of Townsville’s largest suburbs, with 20,780 residents and a median age of 38, in line with the state. Together the two clinics serve the western side of Townsville.

Population figures: ABS 2021 Census QuickStats for Bohle Plains and Kirwan.

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What It Costs

Nobody can quote a dental emergency over the phone, because the fee depends on what is wrong. What we can tell you is that you will be told what the appointment involves and given a written quote before any treatment, emergency or not. We claim health fund rebates on the spot through HICAPS, we see DVA card holders, and payment plans are available. Both clinics also accept Queensland Health vouchers.

If money is the reason you are hesitating, ring anyway and say so. Settling the pain and planning the repair are two different conversations, and the first one should not wait on the second.