Dental Emergencies in Children

Children are great at a lot of things: being adorable, making you smile, and using their imagination. They’re also unfortunately great at getting hurt.

Most parents know how to handle a medical emergency, but when it comes to mouth injuries, there can be a lot that parents don’t know.

Our team pulled together some tips on how to take care of your child during a dental emergency. Check out the info below to help prepare you for the worst.

Be Prepared

The scariest thing about emergencies is that they always catch you off guard. While you can’t expect the unexpected, you can still give you and your child a leg up before disaster strikes.

Make sure you have a dental first aid kit within reach at your house. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) say that your kit should include gauze, a small cup, mouthwash, a cold compress, and a tooth storage device and fluid.

Know the Process

There are different types of dental emergencies, and each one has a slightly different procedure that you should follow. The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends that you know these tips:

• If your child knocks out an adult tooth, try to put it back in the socket without touching a root. Otherwise, you can keep it moist in a cup of tooth storage fluid, like what you packed in your dental first aid kit.
• If a tooth cracks, have your child rinse out their mouth with water. Then grab the cold compress from your first aid kit and use it to keep the swelling down while you wait to get to your dentist.
• If there’s food or an object stuck in your child’s mouth, try to remove it with floss, but not with something sharp or pointed.

No matter what the situation is, the ADA recommends contacting a professional.

Call a Professional

While we can offer information from first aid sources and industry experts, we aren’t dentists. When in doubt, always reach out to a dental professional in an emergency and follow their advice.

Make sure to write down the contact information for your dentist where you store all of your emergency numbers. You may also want to include the information for another emergency dental center in your area, just in case your dentist is closed when you need to call. Show your children where you keep these numbers, so they know who to call in an emergency.

Dental emergencies can seem scary. If you and your family practice good oral health and know how to be prepared, you and your dentist can make the best of a bad situation.