Teeth are very important in many aspects of daily living, such as speaking, eating, and interacting with others. This is the reason why dental emergencies can be so incapacitating. One of the most common types of dental injury is trauma to the teeth. This is a situation that can jeopardize the vitality of your teeth. What you do in the first few minutes and hours after a dental injury significantly influences the outcome of any treatment. Thus, in this article, you will learn what to do after two types of dental injuries before visiting our dentist in West Edmonton.
First Steps
The first thing you should do after receiving an impact on the teeth is to examine your oral cavity to determine the severity of the injury. Some of these injuries, such as a knocked-out tooth, require an immediate trip to our dentist’s office near you. On the other hand, a chipped tooth doesn’t need to be treated immediately if the damage isn’t severe. Another important thing to do is to determine if the dental trauma was isolated or accompanied by head or neck trauma. If this is the case, then the person also needs to be assessed by a doctor to determine if there have been any severe lesions in the affected areas.
Knocked-Out Tooth
A knocked-out tooth is a very unpleasant injury. If your tooth has been knocked out after dental trauma, your main objective should be to salvage it. The best way to do this is to reinsert it in the socket. This way, the tooth will maintain vitality, and our emergency dentist near you can ensure it stays in place while it heals completely. It is vital that when you pick up the tooth, you only touch it by the crown, which is the visible part that lies above the gum line. You should avoid touching the roots at all costs since these are covered by cells that are necessary to restore the tooth’s function and can become damaged if touched. If you can’t reinsert the tooth into the socket, you may store it in some warm milk while you make your way to our dental clinic. If you are experiencing some bleeding, you should bite on moist gauze to control it.
If the tooth is salvageable, our dentist will fit a splint to prevent the tooth and the jawbone from moving around. This will let all the surrounding tissues heal and help the tooth regain stability and functionality. Then, a root canal will be required. In many cases, teeth that have suffered severe dental trauma can become discoloured. This happens when blood enters other tissues like the dentin and can be prevented by undergoing root canal treatment shortly after the injury.
A Chipped Tooth
Sometimes, the result of trauma to the teeth is a dental fracture. There are many types of dental fractures. Some of them, like small enamel fissures, don’t require much treatment. However, in some cases, a significant portion of the tooth can break, exposing the pulp. This is the central part of the tooth where the blood vessels and nerves lie. This exposure can lead to an infection that would significantly compromise the tooth. In these cases, the best thing to do is rinse your mouth with warm water, control the bleeding with moist gauze, and look for emergency dental treatment in West Edmonton.
Depending on the affected tissues, our dentist will have several options to repair your chipped tooth. If the damage isn’t that extensive, some filling material can be used to reshape the tooth. However, when the tooth is affected, you may require a root canal or a dental crown.