As mentioned in previous blog, damage and premature tooth loss can often occur through trauma.
Sports injuries are sadly fairly common; particularly with contact sports such as rugby, football and hockey to name a few. Equally, damage due to tooth clenching and grinding (Bruxism) is a common phenomenon in these stressful times and can require special management.
Below are a few tips on how to minimize tooth damage and loss through accidents and trauma as well as what to do if you are in trouble.
Always use a well fitted sports mouth-guard while performing contact sports or other sports where there is a risk of head injury.
Avoid food that contains very hard substances; particularly take care when eating fruits with stones, boiled sweets, pork scratchings. etc.
Avoid tongue or lip piercing.
Avoid habitual clenching or grinding your teeth – however this may be difficult to control and if this is the case , please call us for advice.
What to do:
Immediately arrange an appointment with your dentist if your tooth has broken and is very sensitive. If the nerve (pulp) is exposed or the tooth is mobile arrange to be seen as soon as possible.
If you have completely lost a tooth following trauma try to find it and place it in normal saline solution, milk or saliva.
Call dentist asap. Ideally you should see the dentist in less than an hour to maximize the chance of saving the tooth.
Many teeth can be repositioned back into their original position but may need root canal treatment and tooth whitening in future.
Knocked out tooth in some circumstances need to be replaced with dental implant or a bridge.
For further advice call Telford 460119 – dental practice.