If your child prematurely loses a baby tooth, there’s no need to try to replace it. But if a permanent tooth is dislodged, it’s a dental emergency. Permanent teeth have the best chance of survival if replaced within 15 minutes. It’s important to act quickly and follow the guidelines below.
If a baby, toddler, or young child injures the gums or baby teeth:
- Apply biting pressure to the area if it is bleeding with a piece of cold, wet gauze. If your child is old enough to follow directions, ask him or her to bite down on the gauze.
- Hold an ice-pack wrapped in a washcloth to the cheek to reduce swelling.
- Give children’s acetaminophen or children’s ibuprofen as needed for pain.
- Call a dentist.
- Watch for swelling of the gums, pain, fever, or a change in the color of the tooth.
If a permanent tooth is chipped or broken:
- Try to recover all pieces of the broken tooth.
- The mouth can be rinsed with warm water.
- Call a dentist immediately.
- Watch for swelling of the gums, pain, fever, or a change in the color of the tooth.
Seek emergency care if a permanent tooth is knocked out:
- Find the tooth. Call a dentist or emergency room right away if you aren’t sure if it’s a permanent tooth (baby teeth have smooth edges).
- Handle the tooth by the biting end — not the root.
- Place the tooth in a “tooth saver” solution (a commercially available product at pharmacies), or place the tooth in a container of milk or your child’s saliva. You also can place the tooth between the lower lip and gum. Do not store it in tap water.
- If the tooth is stored in a container, have your child bite down on a gauze pad or cold wet washcloth to help relieve bleeding and pain.
- The dentist can sometimes place the tooth back into the socket and may splint it temporarily to the adjacent teeth to stabilize it.
Resources
- Division of Oral Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion,
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health
- American Dental Association, Mouth Healthy
- HealthymouthsHealthylives.org
- The Nemours Foundation
- Colgate-Palmolive Oral Care, Life Stages