Emergency visits to the dentist? Are you prepared!
An Emergency visits to the dentist? Yes it can happen!
Here are 5 emergencies you need to be aware of and rush your child to a dentist if needed:
- Mom I can jump!.
- Sleepless nights!.
- The “flying tooth”.
- The diving pop corn kernel or the dead fish bone!
- A “Tongue in cheek” bleed.
It can be a traumatizing experience to both the mother and the child if a child’s teeth is hurt in an accident!
Dental emergencies can be scary and carry a lot of uncertainty with them. Everyone is usually well equipped with plaster for anything that may happen! When it comes to a broken baby tooth or a lost adult teeth though, that is another story!
Let’s discuss them in details to know when it is best to take your child to an emergency dentist if God forbid was needed!
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A Broken tooth/ “Mom I can jump” Needs Emergency visits to the dentist:
“Mom, look I can jump ……and a few minutes after he lands on his teeth and blood is everywhere you realize your poor child broke a baby tooth!”
Unfortunately, the sad truth is that a broken baby tooth is almost sometimes inevitable! Studies show that children are prone to accidents in playgrounds or in school! Up to 14% of children may get one form of injury to their front teeth at one point in their baby-hood!
If in the unfortunate event that your child did fall on his baby tooth and a part chipped off. Don’t panic! It can happen. It’s best to get in touch with your pediatric dentist immediately. In case it happened at night, assess the situation. Clean and rinse off the blood to assess the extent of damage to the tooth. Look for the fractured piece if you can find it. It is wise to store the fractured piece in milk (overnight) or saliva if needed just until you transport it to the dentist. It is best to not keep it dry.
Your child maybe in pain right after a bump to the lips and the teeth. Giving him/her a pain killer that also has an anti-inflammation effect that can relieve the expected soreness.
Many complications can arise after a bump to the tooth. Immediate complications involve an exposed root canal and subsequent infection of the root canal of the tooth. The tooth can also move from its place thereby not allowing a child to bite properly or eat properly. It is advisable to not force feed the child and give soft food just until you see a dentist. Warm water rinses have been known to keep the area clean from bacteria just until you seek the help of a dentist for children and thus may offer some form of pain relief too. Since bacterial contamination of the tooth is also among the side effects to be expected, this helps a lot.
Whether the child’s tooth is a milk tooth or a permanent tooth, it is best to seek immediate attention from an emergency dentist for kids.
Just beware that if the hit was to a permanent tooth, the consequences are much more severe and their effects are longer lasting.
Other complications are the tooth losing its vitality- i.e. it becomes black and dull, maybe becoming a source of infection and an abscess in the making. A chipped tooth can be fixed super easy and quick the earlier we take it to the dentist.
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Persistent Tooth Ache:
A tooth ache is a sign that there is dental decay leading to root canal pain and possible infection. Unfortunately, for a child to report pain the decay process maybe a bit more advanced. Most parents complain that they never heard their son or daughter complain and all of a sudden they are complaining of tooth ache that leads to sleepless nights! Again this is reason to immediately get in touch with a specialist dentist!
The key here is that the child complains of pain from the teeth either at night or on eating sweets.
Unfortunately, sometimes the child’s face starts swelling as well without prior notice, which may mean the dental infection is spreading beyond the tooth into the bone and may necessitate the use of antibiotics.
I usually prefer the child to have a pain killer before coming to see me so I know they are as comfortable as possible during the consultation.
Persistent tooth ache only means this tooth will need a root canal. Even baby teeth need root canals by the way! Just saying… A kid’s tooth pain also means a sleepless night to the poor child and for you the parent!
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The Flying tooth!
A tooth can be knocked out totally that it comes flying out. Beware this is one of the serious dental injuries that can happen. Again it is best to visit your dentist for the child to receive oral care within the first 1-2 hours post trauma. If the tooth in question is a baby tooth, then we are not super worried. However, if the tooth is an adult tooth this means, that we really have the first HALF AN HOUR mostly post the hit to get that tooth in its place safely. The tooth is a vital organ and the first hours get to decide of whether the tooth makes it or not.
Plus, how we transport it also makes that decision. It is best to transport it in milk or even if we have the guts…to just place it back in the socket! Perhaps we can rinse it off dirt by handling it by the white part of the crown- not the root. Pluck it in and give the child something to bite firmly on and rush to your dentist for kids.
Again this injury is very statistically rare. But how we handle it means the difference for our child’s tooth.
Here is a poster that explains further ways to handle knocked out teeth.
Kindly circulate it to your child’s school and please educate as many teachers as possible about the ways to “Save A Tooth”. Trust me it makes such a huge difference in a child’s smile!
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The diving pop corn!
I saw it so many times. A child has been to the movies days prior and suddenly they developed a small tiny swelling in their gum. Perhaps their last meal was fish and a fish bone got caught in the gums. This is way too common of a dental emergency!
This foreign body leads to a gum swelling or even a gum abscess. It increasingly becomes extremely painful to a child to experience and must not be ignored as there is a chance it keeps progressing and the gum swelling becoming larger.
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Tongue bit or cheek injury.
It can happen that a child had a fall and landed on their tongue! I actually happened to witness it one time before, was not a lovely sight since there was just so much bleeding! Thankfully the tongue is one of the fastest healing organs. It is still best to go see a child dentist to make sure everything is in order.
Hope this helps. I hope it never happens to any of your children, it is always best to be prepared just in case also to educate your family members and the teachers taking care of your children. Emergency visits to the dentist is very important.
Please type your comments below or do ask your question if in doubt.