Physical activity, be it part of play or exercise, is essential to good health. There’s always a chance, however, that such activity could lead to you injuring your mouth and possibly losing a tooth long before it’s supposed to go (if at all). A July 22, 2010 article by contributor Shawn Watson for About.com tells readers what to do in the event of such injuries but before rushing to an emergency dentist:
“What to Do When Your Tooth Is Knocked Out
Start by applying firm pressure to the area where the tooth was lost; use a clean piece of gauze or towel. An avulsed tooth may produce a fair amount of hemorrhaging, so it is important to halt this.
Once the tooth has been located and you have controlled the bleeding, inspect the root of the tooth to see if it has been broken.”
If it hasn’t, you should put the tooth in a cup of milk to clean it; a cup of water or saline solution will suffice if milk is unavailable. Watson then advises trying to insert the tooth back into its socket and holding it in place by carefully biting down on a gauze pad. Be sure to visit your trusted Sandy emergency dentist within the hour; the sooner he or she is operating on you, the likelier your tooth will successfully be reattached.
It’s possible that skilled emergency dentists from dental practices like Alpenglow Dental will use a root canal procedure to facilitate successful rebonding of the broken tooth. At any rate, it will take several weeks for the tooth root to reattach to the bone. Further monitoring will likely last for three to six months, with subsequent checkups extending over the next two or three years.
(Article and Image Excerpt from What You Need to Know When You Have a Knocked Out Tooth, About.com, July 22, 2010)
