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The most common dental emergencies include (1) teeth that have been knocked out due to trauma and (2) teeth that have been chipped as a result of an accident. In either case, it is important to know what to do.
If your child's tooth is knocked out:
• Carefully rinse the tooth in water. Make sure that you do not touch the root of the tooth with your hands. The root is the portion of the tooth embedded in the gum and not normally seen.
• Attempt to place the tooth back in its socket and secure with a wet wrap. If this is not possible or if you are afraid that your child might swallow the tooth, place it in a glass containing either saliva or milk.
See your dentist immediately.
Preventing Your Child's Dental Injuries
The best way to prevent a dental emergency is to properly protect your child. Increasingly, dentists are recommending that children engaged in sports wear mouth guards. Once only used in football and ice hockey, mouth guards are now being recommended for other sports as well including rollerblading, basketball, and soccer. Most mouth guards are made of a rubber like plastic and cover the upper teeth.
Not only do mouth guards protect teeth but they also protect lips, gums, and cheeks. Commonly there are two types of mouth guards:
• Semi-formable mouth guards are available in sporting good stores and in drug stores. Often these mouth guards can be boiled to fit allowing them to sit snugly against the teeth. These "throw away" bite guards should be discarded once a month as they are very porous or sponge-like in makeup and have been shown to harbor harmful fungus and bacteria that have caused dangerous infections and an increased incidence of asthma attacks in athletes who wear them.
• Dentist made mouth guards are custom made. The dentist creates a mold of the mouth which is used to create the mouth guard. Consequently, these mouth guards fit more securely against the teeth affording the best protection. This allows the athlete to speak and breathe better and not be distracted by their mouth guard. Dr. Dahm recommends the Maher series of mouth guards as they have been shown to protect the teeth and reduce the incidence of concussion in contact sports. These mouth guards are used by several professional teams.
Another way to reduce the risk of dental injury is to watch out for situations that commonly lead to injury. These are some of the more common:
• Trips and Falls - Falling into furniture and down stairs often causes dental injury. This is most likely to occur when children are first learning to stand using furniture to maintain balance.
• Children who are just learning to walk also have a tendency to fall down - often onto household furniture or other items. If you have an infant make sure to child-proof your home before they become mobile, usually around 12 - 16 months.
• Water Fountains - Often kids injure teeth by ramming them into the spout of water fountains as they drink. Sometimes kids behind them accidentally bump into them causing them to injure their teeth.
• Forks and Spoons - Believe it or not, some injuries are self-inflicted when people, not paying attention, crack or chip their teeth with spoons or forks as they eat
• Bottle Caps - Tell your child to never open a bottle cap by using their teeth.
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