Most dental accidents happen to children and teens when they’re playing outdoors, particularly when bicycles, skateboards, baseball bats, monkey bars or swimming pools are involved. However, dental accidents can happen to anyone in a very large variety of “safe” and unsafe situations.
Here are some statistics:
- Every 2 ½ minutes a child is injured on a playground
- Approximately 10% of children who participate in sports receive some type of injury to their face
- 35% of injuries to children are sports related
- 5 million teeth are knocked out each year
Although we all strive to prevent injuries, sometimes accidents do happen. In case of a dental emergency, the following are some good on-site first-aid steps to follow; these steps should be followed up by a visit to your dentist.
On-site first-aid steps for dental injuries:- If the tooth is loose, push the tooth back into its original position, bite down in the normal bite pattern so the tooth does not move. Locate any chipped fragments in the mouth or on the ground and store them in Save-A-Tooth solution or a sealed container of milk, saline solution or saliva. Call your dentist right away.
- If the tooth is knocked out completely, pick the tooth up by the crown (white part), NOT by the root. (handling the root may damage the cells necessary for bone re-attachment and hider replacing the tooth). If the tooth cannot be replaced in its socket on site, do not let the tooth dry out. Place it in a Save-A-Tooth solution or a sealed container of milk, saline solution or saliva. Call your dentist immediately, the longer the tooth is out of the mouth the less likely the tooth will be able to be saved.
(Adapted from DentalNotes Summer 2000)
