Emergency Dental: What to Do When a Tooth Gets Knocked Out

We have all lost teeth before. As children, our teeth fell out and maybe we put them under the pillow for the tooth fairy or ran to our parents to show them the pearly white in our palm. But most of us now cringe at the thought of losing a tooth for good reason. A knocked out tooth not only causes pain and provides a nuisance but also necessitates emergency dental care. If you lost an adult tooth, you can do a few things as you wait for emergency dental care. In today’s blog, Innovative Dental will go over the proper steps to ensure the best possible outcome for your lost tooth.

Find Your Tooth & Keep it Clean

This should be a no-brainer, but you won’t always think clearly when faced with emergency dental situations. You might find yourself feeling stressed or a little scared. There will be blood in your mouth and a gap in your teeth. First, keep calm. Next, find your dislodged tooth. Make sure you pick up your tooth by the crown. You can severely damage your tooth if you handle it by the roots. You will recognize the crown of your tooth because it’s the part of your tooth that you see every day.

Once you’ve found your tooth, you will need to keep it clean. The key here is to clean your tooth properly. If you don’t clean it at all, you will have problems. If you clean your tooth too much or improperly, however, no emergency dental care can help you. Gently rinse your tooth. Use saline, water, or saliva. Under no circumstances should you scrub your tooth. Once your tooth is clean, you need to keep it wet otherwise the roots will die.

Keeping Your Tooth on the Way to Emergency Dental Care

While you make your way to emergency dental care, you need to keep your tooth safe. Now that you have gently rinsed (not scrubbed!) your tooth, you need to keep it in the perfect environment to give yourself the best chance of having it put back in your mouth. It may sound scary, but the best placed to keep your tooth is exactly where it came from. Carefully slide the tooth into its socket and gently hold it in place. There are a few other ways to keep your tooth safe if this idea freaks you out. We will discuss those other techniques in our follow-up blog.

Call Innovative Dental

We offer emergency dental care, so call us if you have an oral emergency. A knocked out tooth is nothing to scoff at, and you need care as soon as possible. Come to Innovative Dental, and we’ll get you sorted out in no time. Stay tuned for part II of this blog coming soon.