When accidents or dental emergencies happen, our pediatric dentists and team members are here to help. A dental emergency can be a distressing experience for you and your child; fortunately, you can count on our team to help you through it and ease your child’s mind.

Dental emergencies typically occur from accidents such as a bad fall or contact sports. Common injuries include the displacement of teeth and damage to soft oral tissues such as the gums. In some cases, severe accidents may require emergency medical attention. For example, a bad car wreck that causes blunt force trauma to the facial region can affect many tissues on the mouth and face.

If your child is severely affected by an injury or accident, contact or visit your nearest emergency room as soon as possible.

If a tooth has been dislodged from its socket by an injury, instruct your child to avoid touching the tooth or moving it. Contact our office as soon as you can so that we can assess the situation and determine if the tooth should be saved or extracted. When a tooth is completely knocked out from its socket, there are steps you can take to keep the tooth alive until you can visit our office. Do not place a knocked out tooth in water, instead place it in milk or a special solution called Save-A-Tooth (available at most pharmacies).

We recommend that you keep our office number on hand by saving it in your cell phone or in your vehicle so that you can call our office from anywhere. If you’re calling outside of office hours or get our voicemail, leave a detailed message about the nature of your child’s injury along with contact information and we will return your call as soon as possible—even after regular office hours.

Remember for serious emergencies that may involve broken bones or deep cuts in facial or oral tissue, visit the nearest emergency room. If you are out of town, many emergency rooms work with pediatric dentists and oral surgeons.