Amy Z. Lee, DMD, MSD, PhD, PC​

CONDITIONS

Dental Emergencies/Injuries

Many of us at one time or another confront a minor dental emergency such as a children's knocked out tooth or a bitten lip or tongue. Common sense and staying calm should get you through most of these kinds of dental emergencies. Here are some other tips:

Toothaches

Rinse your mouth out with warm water to clean out any debris or foreign matter. Gently use dental floss or an inter-dental cleaner to ensure that there is no food or other debris caught between your teeth.

Some people try placing an aspirin or other kind of pain killer on a painful tooth, but this is not a sound practice. These kinds of substances can actually burn your gum tissue.

Broken, fractured, displaced tooth

For a broken tooth, rinse your mouth out with warm water to clean out any debris or foreign matter. Use a cold compress on your cheek or gum near the affected area to keep any swelling down. Call your dentist immediately.

If a tooth is fractured, rinse mouth with warm water and use an ice pack or cold compress to reduce swelling. Use ibuprofen, not aspirin, for pain. Immediately contact your dentist.

Minor fractures can be smoothed by the dentist with a sandpaper disc or simply left alone. Another option is to restore the tooth with a composite restoration. In either case, treat the tooth with care for several days.

Moderate fractures include damage to the enamel, dentin and/or pulp. If the pulp is not permanently damaged, the tooth may be restored with a full permanent crown. If pulp damage does occur, further dental treatment will be required.

Severe fractures often mean a traumatized tooth with a slim chance of recovery.

Quick action can save a knocked out tooth, prevent infection, and reduce the need for extensive dental treatment. Rinse the mouth with water and apply cold compresses to reduce swelling. Retrieve the tooth by the crown ? not by the root. If you are unable to replace the tooth easily in its socket, place it in a container with a lid filled with low-fat milk, saline solution, or saliva. Visit the dentist or the emergency room as soon as possible.

If your babyâ¿¿s tooth is knocked out, see your dentist, who may recommend a space maintainer to reserve the gap until the permanent tooth comes in. In instances where a primary tooth is loose because of the emergence of a permanent tooth, have the child wiggle the tooth or eat something hard, such as an apple to help it along. Once the shell of the tooth is disconnected from the root, the discomfort in extracting a loose primary tooth is minimal.

Follow these simple first aid steps for a tooth that has been either knocked loose or knocked out:

• If a tooth is displaced, push it back into its original position and bite down so the tooth does not move.
• Call your dentist or visit the emergency room. The dentist may splint the tooth in place between the two healthy teeth next to the loose tooth.
• If the tooth is completely knocked out, pick the tooth up by the crown - not by the root, as handling the root may damage the cells necessary for bone reattachment and hinder the replant. If the tooth can not be replaced in its socket, do not let the tooth dry out. Place it in a container with a lid filled with low-fat milk, saline solution, or saliva. Visit the dentist as soon as possible -the longer the tooth is out of the mouth, the less likely the tooth will be able to be saved.

Sports injuries

According to the Academy of General Dentistry, many sports-related emergencies involving teeth can be avoided by following the rules and remembering dental first aid steps.

Common swimming pool accidents occur when children, swimming underwater, quickly ascend to the surface, hitting the hard ledge, and loosening the front tooth. Running on slippery, slick cement and ceramic pool surfaces also can send your child headfirst into the ground, increasing the likelihood of a chipped or loose tooth.

Bitten lip or tongue

Clean the area gently with a cloth and apply cold compresses or ice to reduce swelling. If the bleeding doesn't stop, go to a hospital emergency room immediately.

Trapped debris, objects between teeth

Try gently removing the debris with dental floss. Be careful not to cut your gums. Never use a sharp instrument such as a needle or pin to remove any object that is stuck between your teeth. If you can't dislodge the object using dental floss, contact your dentist.