Trauma management

Children can tend to injure their teeth from falls or during play or sports activities. The injury may be to a baby tooth or an adult tooth. A tooth may become cracked, chipped, or totally removed from its socket. Your child may have bleeding from the area, pain, or increased sensitivity when a tooth is injured.

Trauma Management

So as a care taker initially how do you handle such situation,

In general, the following guidelines can help you manage the situation.

• Remain calm and reassure your child that you can help.
• If the area is bleeding, place a small piece of folded gauze at the site and have your child bite down or hold it in place with firm pressure.
• Offer your child cool water or an ice pop to suck on to help reduce swelling and pain.
• If a tooth is chipped or cracked, collect all the pieces of the tooth. Make sure any part of tooth is not imbedded in the lips, tongue, or gums.
• Contact your child’s pediatric dentist for further follow-up and care. Sharp or ragged tooth edges may need to be smoothed, and further treatment may be needed to preserve the tooth.
• A loose tooth may need to be stabilized. A badly injured tooth or loose tooth that cannot be realigned may need to be removed.
• Offer your child cool water or an ice pop to suck on to help reduce swelling and pain.
• Hold the tooth by the crown (top of the tooth), not by the root (bottom of the tooth). Plug up the sink to prevent losing the tooth down the drain and gently rinse the tooth with milk (do not scrub the tooth or use tap water as it contains chlorine and may injure the tooth). Milk is similar to the chemical makeup of teeth. You can also have your child spit saliva into cup and store the teeth in it.
• Contact your child’s pediatric dentist immediately for further follow-up and care.

If other injury to the mouth or teeth is suspected, X-rays of the area may be needed.

So how do you prevent tooth injuries …???

• Teach your child not to walk or run while holding an object in his or her mouth.
• Teach your child not to suck or chew on hard, sharp, or pointed objects.
• Have your child wear a mouth guard for sports activities that could result in injury.

Contact us @ 9791035666 for more information or walk-in to get your doubts clarified from our experts

Dr. Roshan Rayen and Dr. Hariharan on trauma management.