Dental trauma - what should you do if you knock a tooth out

Accidents happen, and dental trauma is something we see more regularly than you might think here at Courtney Dental. More often its trauma from sports and physical activities that brings patients to us, holding their tooth in their hand and with a sore bruised mouth. What should you do if you suffer trauma to the mouth. Read below for more information. 

Deciduous, also called baby teeth.
If you are sure that it's a babies tooth, the child will be usually under 6 years old, you will not be reinserting the tooth back into the mouth.
Find the tooth, holding only by the crown and clean with either milk or the smallest amount of water without touching the root surface. You can store the tooth in milk and get to the dentist as soon as possible. The dentist will want to check that the entire tooth came out (If the child is closer to 6 years old the root of the tooth may appear shorter due to resorption) and that their are no fractures to the bone and no surgery required.

Permanent, adult teeth. 

- Find the tooth and hold it only by the crown, if the tooth is dirty, rinse it in milk or very small amount of water. The root surface of the tooth is 'alive' with a fibre that will be damaged if touched and result in poor reimplantation. 
- If you can, try to re implant the tooth back in its socket. Ensure the tooth is facing the correct way. Keep the mouth closed, you can use a mouth guard to hold the tooth in place or even aluminium foil folded for support. 
- Get to your dentist as soon as possible so we can splint the tooth. We use wire and glue to support the tooth while it heals. 

Important things to remember not to do, 
 - Do not wrap the tooth up in any tissue or paper, it needs to be moist in either milk or saliva
- Do not store in water
- Do not touch the root surface of the tooth 

Call us on 47253366 if you have any questions or need assistance