The risk of a dental trauma injury is higher, as we head into spring and the warmer months of summer.
Up to 90% of all dental trauma injuries involve the maxillary incisors. Which include your two front teeth, the most visible teeth in the mouth. The most common trauma to baby teeth occurs around the ages of 2-3, when most children are learning to walk. As children grow older, sport injuries become the leading cause and can be more concerning, since there are now permanent teeth involved. Even for those children who do not play sports, a dental trauma injury can happen at any time. The bicycle is the leading cause of injuries to the mouth outside of sports.
Should your child knock out their tooth or teeth, we have created a video showing what to do for a dental trauma injury. As with any dental injury, you should immediately contact your pediatric dentist for further professional care. The emergency room or your pediatrician may not be properly equipped to deal with a knocked out tooth.
With 30 million children in the US participating in organized sports every year, protecting their dental health and emotional wellbeing is top priority for our office. While football and hockey are the most recognized sports that cause dental injury, baseball and basketball are actually the sports with the highest rate of injury between the ages of 13-17. Every child that engages in a contact sport should use a mouth guard to prevent and/or minimize damage to their permanent teeth. Custom mouth guards made by your dentist can be more comfortable, give better protection, and in our office, they could be customized with your team logo and your child’s jersey number, all contributing to better compliance in use of the mouth guard.
The first step with any injury is to determine what the damage is. If your child is alert and stable, you can focus on the tooth injury. Should the tooth be completed knocked out, try to find it. When you can find it, follow these steps:
1. Rinse gently with saline, milk, saliva or water. DO NOT SCRUB THE TOOTH OR TOUCH THE ROOT!
2. Place the tooth in a sealable container with saline, milk or saliva/blood. DO NOT store tooth in water.
3. Place a damp gauze over the socket and bite gently.
4.Contact your pediatric dentist immediately.
Dental Trauma Injury Statistics
If your child has had a fall which has resulted in a dental injury, you can submit pictures here. One of our staff will reach out to you to schedule an appointment for your child.
