• 22 AUG 17
    • 0

    What to Do If Your Child Knocks Out a Tooth

    Playing sports and horsing around at recess is all in good fun, but if your child knocks out a tooth, you suddenly have a dental emergency on your hands. Learn what you should do to increase the chances of saving the tooth and what to expect from your dentist.

    Act Fast When Your Child Knocks Out a Tooth

    Crying boy with lost toothOnce you’ve calmed your child down, it’s time to act fast if you want to save the tooth. Follow these steps:

    • Control the bleeding: Place a piece of sterile gauze over the injured spot in your child’s mouth and ask him to bite down.
    • Clean the tooth: Rinse it with milk, but don’t scrub or remove any pieces of tissue dangling from the tooth.
    • Preserve the tooth: If possible, place the tooth back in the socket and have your child bite down gently to hold it in place. Otherwise, put the tooth in a container of milk, saltwater, or saline solution to help preserve it until you get to the dentist. Don’t wrap the tooth in a tissue or allow it to dry out because this reduces the chance of a successful reattachment.
    • Get your child to the dentist ASAP: Call Dr. Evanson at (720) 409-0008 and let us know about your dental emergency. Come as quickly as possible to our Parker office with your child and the knocked out tooth. We’ll do everything we can to reattach the tooth, but even if this isn’t successful, there are other ways of handling the situation.

    Knocked Out a Baby Tooth? Space Maintainers are a Good Solution

    Losing a baby tooth prematurely may not seem too serious, but it’s still important to visit with Dr. Evanson. After all, baby teeth serve as placeholders for permanent teeth, so if one gets knocked out early, the adjacent teeth could crowd into the vacant spot and impair a clean eruption of the permanent tooth.

    Dentists prevent this by installing a space maintainer until it’s time for the permanent tooth to erupt. There are several styles available, including various fixed and removable versions. We’ll recommend the proper space maintainer for your child’s age and situation.

    Knocked Out a Permanent Tooth? There are Ways of Filling the Gap

    The ideal option is to reattach the tooth. This is possible if the tooth is held in the socket for several weeks with the aid of a thin plastic or metal wire that acts as a splint. If the reattachment is successful, the ligaments that join the tooth to the bone will regrow.

    A dental implant is the next option to consider if your child is in his mid to late teens and his jaw has finished growing. An implant involves inserting a titanium post into the jawbone and, once the post and bone have grown together after about three months, attaching an abutment and crown to the post. This provides a permanent replacement for the knocked out tooth.

    If the child is too young or wants to avoid surgery, a bridge is another good option. This is when a replacement tooth is attached to the adjacent natural teeth for support. Fixed and removable styles are available to bridge the gap in your child’s smile.

    Call Dr. Evanson If Your Child Knocks Out a Tooth

    Whether you hope to save the tooth or begin the restorative dentistry process, your best bet is to bring your child and the knocked out tooth to Evanson DDS as quickly as possible. Call our Parker office at (720) 409-0008 without delay, and we’ll do our best to get your child in the very same day.

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