Toothtastrophe! SOS!! What should I do?!

Hi Critters, Oswald here! 

Alert, alert! My buddy and I were out chomping on some logs to patch up our beaver dam and I accidentally bit into a rock! One of my beautiful and useful teeth broke and the other popped all the way out of my mouth!! OH NO!!! What to do!? 

Well, it’s a good thing we have Children’s Dental Care to help me think through what I need to do in this type of emergency. Stay tuned for the most basic instructions for how to manage trauma to teeth. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of it and make sure that the right steps are taken to ensure the best outcome and try and save all the teeth we can! 

Now that everyone is back to school it is nice to see everyone settling into their various hobbies and extracurricular activities. Ranging from art, drama, dancing, robotics, and of course sports. Many of these activities and the new environment of school come with the potential for bumps and bruises and even injuries to the teeth! Of course there are a lot of different injuries and a lot of different teeth that can get hurt so below are some of the most important points to remember if something like this happens:

  1. If a baby tooth gets knocked out completely, do not try and place it back in the mouth. Also, if it is broken: Call us immediately at 603-283-8313 and Dr. Zach or Dr. Wully can help talk you through what to do and how we will proceed. 
  2. If a permanent tooth gets knocked out completely: You can do one of two things
    1. Hold it by the crown (the white part of the tooth you usually see) and place it back in the socket it came out of as best you can. Call Children’s Dental Care right away
    2. Place it in a cup of milk and of course: Call the dentist immediately.
  • Whether or not Dr. Wully or Dr. Zach are able to successfully re-implant and save the tooth is most dependent on how long it stays out of the mouth (if it is less than 60 minutes the chance of saving it is much better). So don’t waste any time!!
  • We will see you on an emergency basis and often splint the tooth or teeth to make sure everything is stabilized and able to begin the healing process.
  1. Whether you bumped, broke, or knocked a tooth completely out it is sooooo important that you follow up with our office right away. This will give the highest likelihood of saving and protecting the teeth whatever the injury was. We will guide you through the whole process of follow up and care and do all that we can to make you comfortable throughout! 

Of course we hope you little critters never need to utilize this emergency roadmap, but it is important to know what to do ahead of time if and when it does happen. 

I am looking forward to talking next time about how to prevent these types of things from happening! Maybe if I was taking proper precautions I wouldn’t have done that to myself on that rock! Thanks for reading and I hope this info is helpful should the time arise! 

Stay Flossy my Friends, and Stay Safe!

Oswald