Nearly 50 percent of children will experience some type of injury to a tooth while growing up, many of which are preventable. Tooth and mouth injuries often occur after a fall, sports injury, or fight. Even if these injuries are not life threatening they can have long-lasting effects on the child’s appearance and self confidence. The best way to deal with tooth injuries is prevention. There are 3 things that we need to teach our children to avoid injuries:
- Not to walk or run while holding an object in the mouth.
- Not to suck or chew on hard, sharp or pointed objects.
- Wear a mouthguard for sports activities that might cause injury.
In the unfortunate occurrence that an injury happened, we need to:
- Remain calm and reassure your child because he needs your support.
- If the area is bleeding, place a small piece of clean folded gauze at the site and have your child press or bite down on it.
- Place a cold compress to the swollen area to help reduce swelling and pain.
- If the tooth is chipped or if the tooth came out, collect the tooth and all the pieces. Dr. Kaufman will need to check if a piece of tooth is not embedded in the lips, tongue or gums.
- Keep the tooth and the pieces moist in water or milk, don’t rinse, scrub or clean them – we will do it.
If you would like to get your injured tooth examined and fixed, please call Tooronga Family Dentistry, Phone number 98227006.