The most common causes of dental injuries include falling over, being hit in the face, or having an accident while playing sport. You can also injure or break a tooth by eating something hard.
An injury to your face and mouth can cause bleeding or swelling but can have more serious symptoms such as.
- your tooth to coming loose
- your tooth cracking or breaking
- your tooth to being completely knocked out
- damage to your tooth’s roots
That’s why Saratoga Dental are here to help our local community during this difficult time in lockdown, with any dental emergency! We are here to help if any dental trauma occurs at any time.
What to do if an injury occurs?
Baby teeth:
- Don’t try to reposition or move a baby tooth if it is knocked out of position, doing this could cause damage to tooth underneath and cause more pain.
- If your child is in significant pain, seek advice from your health care professional on possible pain relief medication. If pain continues book them in for a dental appointment.
Permanent/Adult teeth:
- If an adult tooth has been knocked out, keep it! It might be able to put back in its place.
- Call us straight away and ask for an emergency appointment. This means we will see to you as soon as we can, above other appointments.
- If you happen to find the knocked-out tooth, be very careful when holding it – try and hold it by the crown or white part of the tooth. Don’t touch the root.
- If the tooth is dirty, don’t brush it or rinse it under water, gently rinse it in milk. If you don’t have access to milk, use saliva or a saline solution to rinse.
- Try and push the tooth back into the socket it came out of. Be very gentle and you should hear a click, if not try and make the tooth level with your other teeth. Bite down gently on a clean cloth while you wait for a dentist’s assessment.
- If you can’t put your tooth back in, put it in saline solution or milk immediately take it with you to the dentist.
- If milk or saline solution is not accessible, put the tooth very carefully in your mouth between your cheek and gum and go to the dentist. Be very careful not to swallow your tooth.
- You can also use plastic wrap to protect the tooth. Spit some saliva into the plastic the gently wrap it around the tooth making it as airtight as possible.
- Do not put your tooth in water as this can damage the cells within your tooth.
- If only parts of your tooth have broken off, follow the same procedures and head to the dentist ASAP.
- If your face or mouth is swelling, place a cold compress, or ice pack, wrapped in a cloth against the side of your face to help with pain and reduce the swelling.
What if there is blood?
- Apply pressure over the area with a compress made with a clean cloth that’s slightly damp with water.
- Keep this there in place for at 15 minutes while applying pressure. Check to see if the bleeding has stopped and if not, repeat the process until you are seen by a healthcare professional.
Mouthguards
If you or someone you know plays a high impact sport, contact us about custom mouthguards to avoid dental trauma before it happens. They are perfectly fitted to you and even come in fun colours!
Emergency Treatments
Sadly, accidental dental trauma does occur, but you can avoid fear and simply come see us at Saratoga Dental and we will do absolutely everything we can to help you and have you flashing your pearly whites as soon as possible!
We have plenty of financial option and plans to make sure you get the dental treatment you need.