Dental Emergencies Don’t Discriminate between Children and Adults

As an adult and a child’s parent, you cannot assume dental emergencies only affect you and not children. In reality, pediatric dental emergencies are standard because children frequently injure themselves in the mouth and soft tissue when playing or being involved in any other activities. Pediatric dental emergencies can occur between 18 to 40 months old when your child begins an environmental exploration. Children’s dental troubles are also standard during the pre-adolescent and adolescent stages when sporting injuries are common.

Parents of young children often find children’s dental emergencies distressing. It is why we have put together some familiar childhood dental emergencies along with helpful advice on how to manage them.

Childhood Dental Emergencies and Management Techniques

Toothache

Rarely do toothaches occur without reason? Food trapped between the teeth causes discomfort in young children but is comfortably dislodged using a toothbrush, dental floss, or a clean finger. If the pain does not subside, parents must contact the pediatric dentist near me for assistance. Familiar causes for a toothache include tooth decay, wisdom teeth eruption during adolescence and trauma.

How to manage the situation:

Parents can clean the area with warm water without medicating or warming the affected tooth and neighboring gum area.

Checking for food particles and removing them as recommended is helpful.

A cold compress helps to reduce any swelling in the affected area.

Contacting a pediatric dentist for kids is essential for advice.

Avulsed Tooth

If your child has knocked out a tooth entirely from the mouth, it is essential to contact the pediatric dentist in Houston without wasting time. Usually, pediatric dentists do not try to reimplant knocked-out baby teeth because the reimplantation method can harm the tooth bud and impede the emerging permanent tooth.

If the knocked-out tooth is permanent and the trauma hasn’t caused irreparable damage, pediatric dentists try to reimplant the same. The reimplantation procedure’s success rates are higher if you manage to reach the dentist within 60 minutes of the trauma. Therefore time is of the essence.

How can you manage the situation:

Recover the tooth without touching the tooth roots and holding it by the Crown.

Rinse the tooth to remove any dirt or debris without scrubbing the roots.

Suppose your child is old enough to place the tooth into its socket with gentle pressure or encourage the child to put it in their cheeks. If your child is younger, place the tooth in a glass of milk without trying to place it in your child’s mouth. Your child may swallow the tooth.

Make every effort possible to keep the tooth dry on your way to the pediatric dentist as quickly as possible because time is of the essence again.

Root Fractures

Direct trauma to the tooth causes root fractures invisible to the naked eye. X-rays of the tooth are necessary if root fractures are suspected. Depending on the fracture’s exact location and your child’s discomfort, the tooth is monitored or treated. In severe cases, tooth extraction is considered.

Dental Concussion

A dental concussion occurs in children and toddlers when they receive a severe impact on the tooth without dislodging it from its socket or fracturing it. Dental concussion doesn’t require emergency treatment unless the tooth discolors to turn black or dark and indicates the tooth is dying. In such cases, root canal therapy proves beneficial to preserve the child toothache emergency.

Besides the above, children can report different types of dental emergencies, including injured cheeks, lips, or tongue, fractured jaw, dental intrusion, Crown fracture, and others. You may find it distressing to deal with pediatric dental emergencies and may become anxious yourself. However, if you have the emergency dentist’s contact details in your vicinity, you can call them for help and take your child over for necessary treatment.

Many dental emergencies in children are easily preventable by getting them to wear mouthguards when playing contact sports or having child guards at home if your child is a toddler. Taking your child to the pediatric dentist every six months for exams and cleanings also helps prevent some dental emergencies like toothaches or problems with damaged dental crowns, the visible part of the tooth. Pediatric dentists create a personalized treatment plan for your child, which you can implement to ensure you don’t have to confront children’s dental emergencies when least expected. Getting the child to practice appropriate oral hygiene and preventing them from having excessive sugary and starchy foods also helps avoid unnecessary problems like tooth decay and cavities, resulting in dental emergencies. However, it is incredibly essential for parents to realize dental emergencies don’t discriminate between anyone and can affect adults or children at any time of the day or night.