Are you the parent of a child who plays sports? Do you know what to do if your child should be injured in the mouth while playing? While some sports, such as hockey, have a reputation for being especially harmful to players' dental well-being, it's also possible to damage a tooth while playing other sports like basketball or even track and field. Before this happens, there are things you should do to prepare yourself in the event of something going wrong. Some of the most important of these things include:
Find an emergency dentist: Even though you may have a perfectly fine dentist right now, this may not be the best option in the event of an emergency. Many dental offices are unable to accommodate emergency situations, especially if they should happen during an after-school sporting event outside of normal office hours. If your child's tooth gets knocked out, he or she will likely start bleeding from the mouth, potentially leading you to instinctively take him or her to the nearest hospital emergency room. But unless your child also suffered other serious injuries, this action is not likely to be as helpful as going to an emergency dentist. Only a dentist will be able to save the tooth, if possible, or to extract the tooth remains if it can't be saved. The ER will generally only be able to give your child something for the pain and not much more than that.
Be prepared to transport the tooth: If your child does lose a tooth, you'll need to transport it correctly in order for the emergency dentist to have the potential to save it. When you locate the tooth, pick it up by the top (crown) portion and not by the root. Rinse it gently with bottled water, do not scrub. Whenever possible, the best way to transport the tooth is by placing it back into your child's mouth. Since this has the potential for your child to accidentally swallow the tooth, you can also place the tooth into a small container of milk, not water, to help keep the tooth alive and prevent it from drying out during the trip.
Have soft foods available: Whether or not the tooth can be saved, your child will need to stick to a particular diet for a few days in order to allow his or her mouth to heal. He or she will need to avoid sucking on anything, such as soda straws or lollipops, and will also need to avoid things that are too sticky, too hot, or too cold. Your emergency dentist should be able to give you a list of acceptable foods. In order to avoid having to run out to the store just to get food that your child can eat, some things that you might want to keep on hand just in case include mashed potatoes, applesauce, and yogurt.
Share3 March 2019
When the bottled water craze began, I jumped on the bandwagon with everyone else who was drinking water from bottles instead of from the tap. I wasn't sure why bottled water was healthier, but I liked the taste. When I went for my next dental check-up, I had my first cavity in a while, so I had it filled and didn't think much of it. Well, I had two more during my next check-up after that, and I began trying to think of why my teeth were suddenly going bad. The only change in my habits was the switch to bottled water, so I made the switch back to tap water and my teeth began to improve. I created this blog to encourage others who have begun getting cavities suddenly to look into their changes in habits. They may find they made a change similar to mine.