Treatment
Dental injuries in Melton Mowbray
Sport, cycling, a fall at home: a knock to the mouth can chip, loosen or dislodge a tooth in an instant. The first hour decides a great deal, and the follow-up over the following year protects the nerve inside the tooth, which can die quietly long after the injury has healed.
What to do immediately
- Adult tooth knocked out. Pick it up by the crown, never the root. Rinse briefly in milk or saline if it is dirty — do not scrub. Push it gently back into the socket and bite on a clean cloth, or keep it in milk, and see a dentist within the hour.
- Baby tooth knocked out. Do not replant it; it can damage the adult tooth beneath. Have the child seen the same day.
- Chipped or broken tooth. Keep any fragment in milk; it can sometimes be bonded back. Cover a sharp edge with sugar-free gum or wax.
- Loosened or displaced tooth. Leave it in place, eat soft food and be seen that day.
A head injury, loss of consciousness or bleeding that will not stop should go to A&E first.
Assessment
We record how the injury happened, examine the teeth and soft tissues, test the nerve response of each tooth in the area, check for looseness and take X-rays to look for root fractures. A loose tooth may be repositioned and splinted to its neighbours with a flexible wire for a short time.
Why follow-up matters
The blood supply enters a tooth through a tiny opening at the root tip, and a knock can stretch or sever it. The nerve may recover, or it may die slowly with no warning until the tooth darkens or an abscess forms. Injured teeth are reviewed at a few weeks, three months, six months and a year, with nerve tests and X-rays, so that treatment starts at the right time if it is needed.
Treatment that may follow
- Root canal treatment when the nerve has died or become infected.
- Special procedures for young teeth whose roots have not finished forming.
- Treatment of root resorption, where the body begins to dissolve the root after injury.
- Repair or crowning of broken crowns, arranged with your own dentist.
Children
Most dental injuries happen to children and teenagers, and a properly fitted mouthguard prevents the majority of sporting ones. We see children for the endodontic part of their care and work with the family dentist on monitoring — see our guide to children and root canal treatment.