As a young mother, I was reasonably ignorant when raising my firstborn. My biggest regret is that I didn't help her take better care of her teeth. Like many people, I didn't realise the importance of baby teeth, resulting in long-term dental problems. Recently, my daughter got married and some of my tears were for the beautiful, glistening smile she presented to the cameras. Ever since I realised the dental damage I had caused, I had been saving for my daughter to have cosmetic dentistry. The results are remarkable. During the course of this journey, I have learnt a lot about caring for children's teeth and corrective procedures that can be undertaken when issues arise. I am sure many of you would be interested in the latest knowledge and techniques that are available to prevent and repair dental complications. I'm Margret Devlin - thanks for visiting.
Injuries and accidents can lead to your tooth being knocked out. When this happens, you have a couple of minutes to save the tooth. While the nerve and blood supply will often have been severely damaged, your tooth can still be reattached. However, proper and quick emergency action is necessary. How you handle your knocked-out tooth will play a crucial role when it comes to reattaching it at . Therefore, here is a guide on how to deal with a knocked-out tooth to increase the chances of success during reattachment.
Be Careful When Picking It Up
Locate and pick up the tooth, but be extremely careful about how you hold it. Grab your tooth by the crown, i.e. the top section that's usually exposed. Avoid the root area of the tooth to prevent damages. The health of the root is crucial to the process of reattachment, so you need to be careful not to cause any damages.
Remove Dirt and Other Debris
The tooth can pick up some dirt and debris when it falls to the ground. You have to get rid of the dirt, and to do this, rinse the tooth gently with some water. Avoid chemicals or soap and make sure you don't dry it or try to wrap it in a piece of cloth or tissue. The tooth has to stay moist all the time for the reattachment to be successful.
Try to Reposition the Tooth in Its Socket
Repositioning the tooth in the socket works to keep it moist until you reach a dentist or endodontist. If you are successful with this step, you need to hold the tooth in place. To do this, you can gently bite down on it, use your fingers, or bite down on a gauze, handkerchief, or a clean towel.
Repositioning the tooth will not always work so don't force it. Also, if it's your child's tooth that was knocked out and you are the one conducting this emergency procedure, this step is usually unadvisable because of the risk of swallowing the tooth.
Store the Tooth in a Moist Place
If the tooth cannot be repositioned in the socket, you have to store it in a moist place. Milk is usually preferred. That's because the surface cells of the root may not tolerate tap water for long. However, if you don't have the milk, just use water. The goal is to keep the root moist because that's crucial for the survival of those surface cells.
Remember you only have minutes to save your tooth so visit an emergency dentist or endodontist as fast as possible.
Share12 April 2018
