Emergency Dental Care
It is very important to be prepared in case your child has an emergency. Even though we wish that they wouldn’t, emergencies do happen. Being educated and knowing what to do in an emergency can be the difference between losing and saving a tooth.
In the event of an after hours or weekend emergency please text or call Dr. Stout at (805) 602-0402 (and attach a photo if possible)
If you are not able to reach us, go to the nearest emergency center.
-Avulsed tooth (knocked out)
If a tooth is avulsed, make sure it is a permanent tooth (primary teeth should not be replanted).
Keep the patient calm.
Find the tooth and pick it up by the crown (the white part). Avoid touching the root.
If the tooth is dirty, rinse it gently in milk, saline or in the patient’s saliva and encourage the patient/parent to replant the tooth in the original position in the jaw.
Bite on a handkerchief to hold the replanted tooth in position.
If immediate replantation is not possible, place the tooth in a suitable storage medium available at the emergency site. This should be done quickly to avoid dehydration of the root surface. A suitable storage media for avulsed teeth are milk, HBBS, saliva (after spitting into a glass for instance) or saline. Although water is a poor medium, it is better than leaving the tooth to air-dry.
Seek emergency dental treatment immediately.
– A permanent tooth with a fracture that exposes the pulp (bleeding or a red spot can be seen in the center to the remaining tooth) Save the tooth fragment if possible and store in milk, saline or patients saliva
– A tooth pushed out of position that makes it difficult to close or bite
– Toothache keeping a child up at night and/or causing facial swelling
