What if you or your child loses or damages a tooth due to trauma?
• Always call your dentist immediately.
• If you cannot reach your dentist or a dentist who handles emergency after hours care, depending on the extent of the injury/trauma you may need to visit the emergency room.
• If the tooth is chipped and there is no bleeding, it’s best to contact your dentist for further instruction.
Dental care shouldn’t take a vacation. An emergency unscheduled visit to the dentist is surely not among summer or travel plans. The long days of summer are great for being with friends and family enjoying the outdoors. They’re also a time to make sure you keep up with your dental care routine and stay mindful about the possibility of dental injuries, especially in children.
Help Prevent Dental Injuries: Dentists see a marked rise in dental emergency visits in the summer. Baseballs, bats, pool walls, flying elbows, and errant sail booms (which even have their own named injury: “boom mouth”), many of our favorite summer activities all carry the potential for damaged, lost or chipped teeth. Luckily, there’s an easy preventative whenever contact sports are involved: mouth guards. Any mouth guard will help protect teeth to some extent, but some are better than others.
Many tooth-related accidents start with a child’s flip-flop getting caught in a deck surface or a trip down the steps to the beach. And, if those get-togethers happen to be by a pool, make sure there’s no running. The slippery surface is a perfect place for accidents to happen—and possibly damaging teeth.
Everything in Moderation: If you must indulge in the goodies at those summer beach barbecues and family picnics, eat sweets in moderation, and make sure there’s fresh water available to drink afterward to help clean sugar off the teeth.
Stick with the program: Just because it’s summer, doesn’t mean there’s a break from your family’s dental routine. If you go on vacation, remember to take all dental supplies: toothbrush (manual or electric), toothpaste, and dental floss…and use them! Also, keep any dental appointments you made during the summer months.
All too soon it will be time to go back to school. With a little protection and good dental habits (including scheduling back-to-school appointments, dental and orthodontic) your child’s smile will make it back to school, intact and shining.
