A dental emergency, whether it is experienced in your child's teeth, gums, or elsewhere, can have severe ramifications if ignored, especially when effects are permanent or require extensive, expensive treatment in the future. To prevent dental emergencies from occurring, you should ensure your child always:
Have your child wear a mouth guard when they are participating in sporting activities.
Use a mouth guard, particularly if it is a contact sport like hockey, football, and boxing. Mouth guards can help prevent serious mouth injuries, including bleeding gums and chipped or knocked out teeth.
Eat carefully and wisely.
Although teeth are strong, they still crack or chip by eating hard candy, nuts, or chewing crunchy meat (bacon). Use caution when biting down on these products, or simply remove them from your child's diet because they are not worth the risk of chipping a tooth.
Avoid chewing on items that are not edible.
Many children have oral tendencies, such as biting their nails or chewing on pens. This can cause cracks or chips in their teeth. Swap these items for sugarless chewing gum, a product that stimulates saliva production and cleanses bacteria.
Rinse your child’s mouth with warm water and use dental floss to dislodge any food that lies between their teeth. If their mouth is swollen, apply a cold compress to the outside of their mouth or cheek. Aspirin, or any other painkiller, should not be put against their gums near the aching tooth since it may burn their gum tissue.
Salvage any pieces and rinse them in warm water, along with your child’s mouth. For bleeding, apply a piece of gauze to the area for roughly ten minutes or until the bleeding completely ceases. Then, apply a cold compress to the outside of their mouth, cheek, or lip near the broken or chipped tooth in order to limit any swelling and relieve discomfort.
Prior to coming in, stick a piece of sugarless gum into the cavity or utilize an over-the-counter dental cement. Gum containing sugar will only augment your child’s discomfort.
Should you be unable to reach our dental practice immediately and your child’s tooth is causing significant pain, use a cotton swab to apply a small amount of clove oil to the sensitive area. You might have a chance of slipping the crown back over their tooth, though it is vital that you first coat the surface with an over-the-counter dental cement, toothpaste, or denture adhesive to help hold the crown in position.
Dislodged (also known as luxated) teeth, occur when a tooth is pushed sideways out of, or into, its socket. We can re-position and stabilize this tooth, but root canal treatment is usually needed if it happens to a permanent tooth and should be performed within a few days after the injury. For children who experience this with their baby teeth, we will monitor the recovery process carefully, intervening the moment unfavorable changes occur.
Before arriving at our office, apply a cold compress to the outside of your child’s mouth or cheek in the affected area to relieve any discomfort. An over-the-counter pain reliever, such as Tylenol or Advil, can also assist in the meantime.
Knocked-out (also known as avulsed) teeth, are exactly what they sound like – teeth that have been completely knocked out of their socket. Time is of the essence here. The tooth should be handled gently, without touching the root surface. A knocked-out tooth should be quickly and gently rinsed in water, without any soap or other cleaning agents. You should also avoid scraping or brushing the tooth with a toothbrush. If you can, place it back in its socket as soon as possible – the less time it spends outside its socket, the greater chance there is to save it. Once the tooth is placed back in its socket, we will check for other dental and facial injuries, and then a stabilizing splint will be placed for a few weeks to support the tooth. If the tooth cannot be placed back in its socket, you should place the tooth in a bag of milk and head to our dentist office, or nearest emergency room.
An injury to the soft tissue in our mouth, such as the tongue, cheeks, gums, or lips, can cause bleeding. In this case, bleeding can be controlled by following these steps:
An abscess is an infection around the root of a tooth or within the space between our gums and teeth. These represent a severe condition that can harm tissue and surrounding teeth, as the infection can potentially spread to other parts of our body if neglected. To ease the discomfort and draw the pus near the surface, rinse your child’s mouth with a mild saltwater solution a few times per day. Abscesses resemble a pimple-like swelling on the gums and typically cause discomfort, and they can carry the threat of serious oral and general health issues.
Some discomfort following a tooth extraction is expected, but if bleeding continues an hour after the procedure, call our office. To keep your child relatively comfortable, place a gauze pad over the extraction site and have your child apply pressure by biting down on it.
Watch for signs in your child’s mouth, such as bleeding, sensitivity, pain, discoloration, a sore, lump, or anything abnormal, as they can be early signs of an oral disease. Inform us when this occurs so we can examine the area for any treatment that may be needed.
Making kids smile, one tooth at a time
We look forward to seeing you and your child soon! Please note, we will do our best to accommodate your schedule. You can reach us on (732) 540-7999 or complete the form below.
We ask that you arrive to your appointment 15-minutes early.
Regarding insurance, we accept some PPO insurances, Delta, and Carrington. We also accept Medicaid and Aetna DMO. As a courtesy to all our patients, we take care of the claim filing and processing.
Thank you so much for contacting our pediatric dental practice. While we strive to respond to all inquiries right away, we may be away from the desk helping a patient or out of the office. We will do our best to reach out to you shortly.
Please note, if this is a dental emergency, it would be best to call our practice as this is the fastest way to reach us (732) 540-7999.
We understand that trying to find a nearby pediatric dentist you can trust is difficult, that is why we make it easy for you to work with us.
(732) 540-7999
4050 Asbury Ave, Tinton Falls, NJ, 07753
info@cavitydetective.com
All Rights Reserved | Cavity Detective
All Rights Reserved | Cavity Detective
Pediatric Dentist Website Diagnosed, Treated, and Cured by Dr. Marketing Inc