Help! I Broke My Tooth!

Meet our friend Laura.

Laura’s having a rough day. She hasn’t entirely figured out how it happened but she noticed that her 14-year-old has somehow broken his front teeth clean in half playing with friends. Before she can ask, her sister calls to say she spent the morning at the dentist with her husband because he accidentally knocked out three of his teeth entirely. These two situations are similar but are handled differently in the eyes of a dentist.

Considering teeth are the only part of your body that’s stronger than your bone, you’d think they would be pretty difficult to damage. Surprisingly that’s untrue! Given the right circumstances and conditions, teeth can often crack by the pressure from neighboring teeth alone. There are certain causes that can be easily avoided if you’re aware of them.

Eating hard foods like ice or popcorn kernels
Untreated cavities
Tongue or lip piercing against the teeth
Using your teeth for something other than chewing, like opening bottles

Then there are common causes that are often accidental and can’t be foreseen. In Laura’s case, her son was drinking from his water bottle when a friend tipped the bottom end of the bottle as a joke. The friend accidentally hit the bottle too hard, knocking it into the son’s face and breaking his teeth in half. There was no malicious intent, nevertheless. teeth were still broken. Other common causes of broken teeth are often inflicted by others, such as sports injuries or trauma to the face from an accident.

My Whole Tooth Is Gone! Now What?

Losing your teeth as an adult is much less exciting than when you were a child. Instead of a Tooth Fairy coming to bring you money, you get to bring your tooth to the dentist and shell out cash instead. Much less fun, we know.

If you have accidentally knocked out a tooth as an adult there are some very important things you need to know.

As soon as that tooth falls out, you are now on a time table. Ideally, you can find the tooth and can get in to see an emergency dentist. That dental appointment should happen within 30 minutes of the accident and the tooth should be reimplanted within an hour of coming out. This will limit the possible nerve damage and trauma to your jaw bone, nerves, and mouth.
Don’t ever touch the root of your tooth. Always, always, always carry your tooth by the crown, also known as the “chewing surface” of your tooth.
Clean your tooth carefully, but only with gently running water or a saline solution. Do NOT scrub or use soap.
Believe it or not, it’s actually best if you can put the tooth back in the socket while you’re on your way to the dentist. If you can’t do that because of pain, damage, or extreme queasiness — be sure to store the tooth properly.
Keep your tooth in milk. This protects the cells that are still living on the root of your tooth that’s been ripped from his home. The proteins, antibacterial properties, and sugars keep your tooth and it’s cells in great condition for the dentist.
No milk? The next best option is to store the tooth in your cheek with your saliva. Just please, don’t swallow it!

What Will The Dentist Do?

Once you take your broken or newly displaced tooth to the dentist, they’ll be able to address your options. For broken teeth, sometimes the tooth can be sanded smooth if the chip or break isn’t too noticeable. If not, the tooth can be rebonded or a veneer can be used to recreate an aesthetic look. For knocked out teeth, the dentist will hopefully be able to reattach your original tooth. If not, the conversation turns to dental implants or dentures.

Silver Springs Emergency Dentistry

At Silver Springs Family Smiles, our dentists offer the highest quality of care and professionalism to our patients. We practice emergency dentistry and have years of experience reattaching teeth from the craziest accidents. Live your life to the fullest and take risks, instead of having your back, we’ll have your teeth! Your teeth are important to you, making them important to us. Contact us to schedule an appointment or call immediately if you’re having a dental emergency.