Knocking your tooth out is one of the most common dental emergencies out there. Accidents happen, but there are steps you can take to help save your tooth. Your Stafford emergency dentist has compiled a list of things you can do to help save your smile:
● Stay calm - Panicking will not help you, but handling the situation immediately will. First thing is first, take a deep breath and compose yourself. You need to act quickly if you want to keep your tooth. Next, gather all the fragments of your tooth and call a dentist.
● Pick up your tooth by the chewing surface, NOT THE ROOT - the health of the root of your tooth is what will determine whether or not you can keep that tooth or if you’ll need to have it replaced. It is easily damaged, so it’s important that you do not touch it. Rinse the tooth for no longer than 10 seconds under cool water to rinse off any dirt.
● Put the tooth back in it’s socket (only adult teeth, not baby teeth) - This will help your tooth survive until you can get to the dentist. If the lost tooth is a child’s tooth, do not reinsert it because it can damage the adult tooth growing in the gums. Put the tooth in milk and get to the dentist immediately.
● Submerge your tooth in milk - This can help your tooth survive if you can’t put it back in the socket. The proteins and sugars in milk will help keep cells alive long enough to get to a dentist.
● Call your dentist or get to an emergency dentist within 30 minutes - this is how long you have to save your tooth. A tooth can only be re-inserted up to an hour after it has been knocked out. The tooth roots will die after this amount of time and the tooth will have to be replaced, which can be very costly. If you’ve missed the window to save your tooth, do not panic. There are plenty of cosmetic options available to help restore your smile.
Dental implants would offer the most natural replacement for a knocked out tooth. They use a titanium root to replace the root of the tooth with a crown attached to replace the actual tooth. This is the preferred method of replacing teeth due to the functionality and the longevity of dental implants. If you would like to contact your emergency dentist in Stafford, VA regarding emergency treatment, call Unique Dental at (540) 699-2414.