When kids are young and running around, they are more prone to falls and potential trauma to their baby front teeth.
Imagine your little one is running and takes a fall, and their face hits the floor or the couch or a chair nearby. They’re crying, you see blood; it’s a stressful scene.
The bleeding is most likely coming from a cut lip or just inside the lips. Compress the area with gauze or tissues. The applied pressure for a few minutes will stop the bleeding.
Check to see if there are any teeth that are loose or knocked out. With baby teeth, less can be done in these circumstances compared to adult teeth. If the teeth have been knocked out, the dentist may not try to place them back, because the likelihood of them holding is low compared to adult teeth. If the teeth are loose, we’ll recommend that parents to avoid allowing the child to bite or chew with their front teeth and give it time to settle.
In either circumstance, a visit to the dentist is recommended. A radiograph may be taken to make sure there is no damage to the surrounding bone. If there’s no structural damage, then the dentist will take a wait and see approach. Sometimes the nerve of the baby tooth may die off and get infected. In this case, the tooth may then need to be removed.
Kid’s are usually very resilient. And in most cases, this type of trauma just results in a cut lip and your little one just needs a little TLC from mom and dad and maybe a little bit of ice cream to make them feel better.
Contact our office at North Delta Dental if your child has sustained dental trauma. We make time for these types of dental emergencies in our schedule.