It can happen easily to anyone – you may slip in the shower, bang your mouth on the handle bars of a bicycle, get hit in the mouth with a baseball or even get punched by a bully in the school yard and get one or more of your teeth knocked out. If you have a dental emergency such as this, it’s extremely important to get to the emergency dentist Plymouth MI right away. Time is of the essence. The quicker you get there, the better chance you have of saving the tooth.
If a tooth is knocked out due to an accident or injury, it’s important to try to locate the tooth. If the tooth is broken, try to find the pieces of it and bring them all to the dentist. An intact tooth can be put back into the socket and held in there on the way to the dentist. If the mouth is bleeding too much where the tooth is missing, fold up a clean piece of gauze and hold it on the spot to stop the bleeding. A missing tooth that belongs to an adult or older child, can be held in the mouth while on the way to the dentist. The saliva is helpful in keeping the tooth healthy and increases the chances of it being able to be implanted back into the socket. Never put a tooth in water. It will destroy the chances of the tooth being implanted back into the mouth. Milk will work in a pinch if saliva is not possible, though saliva is the first choice for successful implantation according to the emergency dentist Plymouth MI.
The most important factor in successful re-implantation of a knocked out tooth is time. The sooner you can get the patient, along with their tooth, to the dental office the better chance the dentist has of success. Most dentists agree that if it is more than one hour, success is unlikely. Holding the tooth in the socket during transport is best and if it is not possible, keeping it moist in saliva is the next best option. Milk is the last, but acceptable choice, if necessary. Remember to get to the dentist immediately if you want to successfully re implant a tooth in the mouth.
