What To Do When Your Tooth Gets Knocked Out
Posted on: 19 July 2015
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Participating in sports can be dangerous, especially when it come to the health of your teeth. Having a tooth knocked out during a sporting event is not uncommon, but you might not know how to react in that type of emergency situation.
To help give your dentist the best chance of saving your tooth, here are two things that you should do if you have a tooth knocked out in the future.
1. Be careful where you touch the tooth.
When collecting your tooth to take to the dentist after it has been knocked out it's extremely important that you use caution when touching the tooth. Make contact only with the crown of the tooth (the part of the tooth that was visible before it was knocked out), and avoid touching the tooth's roots.
Making contact with the roots could introduce bacteria into the tooth. When your dentist places the tooth back into the socket, the bacteria could lead to an infection or tooth decay. When you take care not to touch the roots of a tooth that has been knocked out with your hands, you give yourself the best possible chance of successfully replacing the tooth.
2. Store the tooth properly.
If you want your tooth to remain healthy enough to be salvaged, you must store it properly while you wait for dental attention. Inserting the tooth back into its proper socket and biting down on some gauze to keep it in place is the best way to store a tooth that has been knocked out.
When the tooth is in the socket the roots will be shielded from contaminants and blood flow to the tooth will be maintained. If you are unable to put the tooth back into the socket, place it in a bowl of milk instead. This will help to maintain the right fluid balance in the tooth and will prevent the roots from starting to decay.
By either placing the tooth back in the original socket or storing it in a bowl of milk while you wait to see the dentist you can increase the odds of successfully saving your tooth after it gets knocked out.
If you are planning to participate in sporting events, then knowing how to care for a knocked-out tooth is essential. Be sure that you handle a knocked-out tooth by touching only the crown and place it back in the empty socket or in a bowl of milk while you seek the services of an emergency dentist. For more information, contact a professional like Milan Simanek DDS.