Caring for an Elderly Parent With Special Dental Needs

What Should You Do If Your Child's Tooth Gets Knocked Out?

16 October 2015

Joe Lawrence

Kids fall down, break bones and get cuts all the time. Sometimes they even lose teeth. If your child has knocked out a tooth because of a bad fall or some other household accident, knowing what to do can help you save your child's beautiful smile.

What should you do if your child's tooth gets knocked out?

Your first course of action should be to find the tooth, pick it up and rinse it off with water. When you pick up the tooth, handle it by the part that chews food--don't touch the root of the tooth. Your next course of action will depend on whether or not this tooth is a baby tooth or a permanent tooth.

• Baby teeth: If the tooth is a baby tooth and your child was close to the age of losing the tooth anyway (around 5 or 6 years old or older), you may choose not to bother putting the tooth back in the mouth. You should call the dental emergency number for your child's dentist to double check, but in many cases it's alright to leave the tooth out. If your child is very young, however, or if the dentist says that you should try to save the tooth, follow the same procedure you would follow to save a permanent tooth (described below).
• Permanent teeth: If the tooth is a permanent tooth, your priority should be to save the tooth. Once the tooth has been rinsed off, have your child put the tooth back in the empty socket and then bite down to hold the tooth in place. If your child isn't comfortable putting the tooth back in the socket, or is too upset to do so, drop the tooth in a glass of milk. If there's no milk on hand, have your child spit into a cup, then place the tooth in the saliva. Do not put the tooth in water. Next, contact your child's dentist and tell him or her that you and your child are on the way. Get to the dentist as quickly as possible--hopefully within 30 minutes.

How can you prepare for this kind of dental emergency in the future?

Have the dental emergency number for your dentist on hand at all times. Keep it saved into your cell phone and also posted on your refrigerator for babysitters. Also, it's a good idea to keep an emergency tooth preservation kit on hand if your child is prone to accidents. Emergency tooth preservation kits can help you ensure that your child's tooth can be saved in the event of an accident.

For more information, contact a dentist like Peak Family Dentistry & Orthodontics.

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