First, dental or medical?
Most dental emergencies belong at a dental office. A few belong at the ER first. Go to the emergency room before anything else if there is facial swelling that reaches the eye or throat, a fever with swelling, or any trouble breathing or swallowing. Those are medical emergencies, and the tooth can be handled after.
For everything else, call the office. Describing what is happening takes a couple of minutes, and the office will tell you how soon you need to be seen.
What counts as a dental emergency
- A severe or throbbing toothache, or pain that keeps you up at night.
- A broken, cracked or knocked-out tooth.
- Swelling in the gum or face, or a pimple-like bump on the gum, which can signal infection.
- A lost crown or filling.
- Bleeding that will not stop.
If you are not sure whether yours qualifies, call anyway. A tooth that is asking for help rarely improves on its own.
What to do while you call
This is general dental first aid, not a diagnosis. Call and the office will tell you what yours needs.
- Toothache. Rinse with warm salt water and take the over-the-counter pain reliever you would normally use. Never hold aspirin against the gum.
- Swelling. A cold compress on the cheek. Never heat.
- Knocked-out tooth. Pick it up by the crown, never the root. Rinse it gently with milk or saline if it is dirty and try to seat it back in the socket; if you cannot, keep it in a cup of milk and call immediately. The first hour matters most.
- Broken tooth. Save the pieces and bring them with you.
- Lost crown or filling. Keep the crown if you have it and bring it in. The exposed tooth underneath is vulnerable.
How In Line handles an emergency
Call (909) 345-6155, or text the office, and describe what is happening. The office answers calls Monday through Saturday, triages you by phone and holds time in the schedule for emergencies. Dr. Chon sees patients on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and for a genuine emergency he comes in on the other days as well, so a genuine emergency can be seen the same day.
At the visit, Dr. Chon examines the problem tooth and takes the digital X-rays needed to diagnose it. Getting you out of pain comes first. Then he explains what the tooth needs, in plain words, and any treatment is priced in writing before it starts. Nitrous oxide is available if dental visits make you anxious.
Sometimes the answer is a nerve problem inside the tooth. In that case Dr. Chon explains the options and tells you plainly whether the tooth is treated here or by a specialist he refers you to. The guide to root canal or extraction covers how that decision is made, and the root canals page explains the warning signs. A broken tooth or a lost crown often leads to a crown; the crowns and bridges page explains those repairs.
The In Line team welcomes patients in English, Spanish, Korean and Vietnamese, and the practice is on Golden Springs Dr in Diamond Bar.
What an emergency visit costs
An emergency visit is the same $95 flat new-patient visit, or $0 out of pocket with an active PPO plan — there is no separate emergency fee. That covers the focused exam and the X-rays that diagnose the problem tooth, so you leave knowing what is wrong. Treatment does not have a single published price, because it depends on what the tooth needs; you get an itemized written price at your exam before anything starts.
If you have dental insurance, In Line is in-network with eight major PPO carriers (listed on the insurance page), and other PPO plans are welcome out-of-network: you pay at the visit, In Line files your claim the same day, and your insurer reimburses you, with an estimate beforehand. The insurance page explains the process. For larger treatment, financing is available on approved credit through CareCredit, Affirm, Klarna, Afterpay, Sunbit, LendingClub and Proceed Finance; see how financing works.
Why not wait it out
Dental pain rarely improves on its own, and an infection does not wait. An ER visit can calm swelling and pain for a while, but an ER rarely has a dentist on staff, so the tooth itself goes untreated and the problem tends to return. A dental exam finds the cause. The emergency care page has everything in one place, including how to reach the office.