WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-First with Kids: Dental Emergencies

First with Kids: Dental Emergencies

Dental Emergencies

Parents have recently been asking me a mouthful of questions about what to do if their child chips or knocks out a tooth accidentally. Let me see if I can do more than just brush the surface on this one.

When kids are active during the summer, they’re sure to knock into each other and, occasionally, they will knock out one of their teeth. Teeth that are jarred and pushed forward may bleed a little, but they will usually return to their normal position. Chipped teeth, though, need to be seen by a dentist.

When a baby tooth comes out, it’s out forever—there’s no replacing it. When a permanent (or adult) tooth is knocked out, though, there are ways to salvage to tooth, if you act quickly. Here are a few suggestions:

• Find the tooth as quickly as you can and pick it up, being careful to avoid touching the root. Best results are achieved when the tooth can be re-implanted within 15 minutes. After two hours, replacement will not be possible.
• Rinse the tooth off with running water, and then replace it back into your child’s the socket. Make sure it’s facing the same way it was when it popped out, though.
• Press it in until it is level to the adjacent tooth.
• Have your child bite down on a wad of cloth until you can reach a dentist to further stabilize what you have done.
• If you can’t replace the tooth yourself, put it in a glass of milk or in a container with some of your child’s saliva, which may help preserve it until a dentist can try to re-implant it.
• If the tooth is chipped, and if your child is in pain because a nerve has been injured, please call your dentist immediately. If the tooth is chipped and your child is not in pain, it is less critical to seek emergency help, but you still need to call the dentist and let him or her know what happened, just to be safe.

Of course, the best way to deal with a displaced tooth is to not let it happen in the first place. Make sure your children wear a mouth guard if they are actively engaged in contact sports. 

Hopefully these tips will allow you and your child to sink your teeth into the proper care of the injured tooth.