Nobody wants to have a dental emergency, but they happen every single day. The most common cause of dental emergencies is sports, especially contact sports. Physical activities and injuries (such as falling) can lead to broken or fractured teeth, knocked-out teeth and more. Some dental emergencies won’t be as severe as others, but all could lead to tooth loss without dental help. Find out what dental emergencies happen the most often and why you want to see a dentist immediately!

Why Do Dental Emergencies Happen?

More than 5 million teeth are broken or knocked-out each year just in contact sports. That’s not including falls, hits to the face, car accidents and other ways to sustain dental injury. Depending on the year, up to 39% of dental emergencies are sports-related. However, poor oral hygiene can also account for a large portion of why dental emergencies happen.

When patients don’t brush and floss their teeth properly or enough, they may have tooth decay that grows large. That decay will severely weaken a tooth, which can eventually fall out or can crack or break in half without warning. If you want to avoid dental emergencies, reduce your risk significantly by brushing at least twice a day, flossing 1-2 times a day and visiting the dentist.

The Different Types of Emergencies

We see the same types of dental emergencies in our office. Here’s what they are and what you should do as you wait for your appointment:

• Toothaches: These can happen from decay or infection. Clean around the sore tooth meticulously and use a warm salt water rinse to dislodge trapped food. Use acetaminophen and a cold compress as needed and contact us right away.
• Cut/Bitten Tongue, Lip or Cheek: This can happen with food, braces or injuries. Ice can be applied to any bruised areas. If there is bleeding, apply firm, but gentle pressure to the area with sterile gauze or cloth. If the bleeding does not stop or continues after 30 minutes, go to an emergency room.
• Cracked Tooth: When you have a cracked tooth, you likely bit down on hard food or with the right amount of pressure that there was a break. You will know it’s a crack if you have sharp pain when biting down that then disappears but happens again when you bite. Cracks can cause tooth loss, so always have a dental visit just to be sure.
• Broken Tooth: Broken teeth can happen when biting on food, and non-food items (like pencils), opening containers with your teeth, and during contact sports. A break can be fixed with dental fillings, crowns, or even a new tooth if dental help isn’t sought. With any tooth break, keep the tooth fragments in water or milk and don’t handle them more than necessary. Bring them to the dental office with you.
• Knocked-Out Permanent Tooth: This is a serious dental emergency that requires immediate dental attention. Recover your tooth and make sure to only hold it by the crown (not the root). Rinse the tooth, but don’t handle it more than necessary. Reinsert the tooth in the socket and hold it in place using a clean piece of gauze or cloth. If that doesn’t work, carry it in a cup of water or milk to the office.
• Broken Braces: Depending on the severity, it may be a dental emergency. A bracket or wire can break, cutting up the gums or cheeks. If the broken appliance comes out easily, remove it. If it is lodged or painful to remove, cover what you can with wax or use cotton balls or gauze in the area until your appointment. Don’t remove wires or appliances on your own if they have become stuck in your gums, cheek or tongue, as this could cause a more serious injury.

Dental Emergencies with Children

Did you know that children are at the highest risk for dental emergencies? This is because many children are involved in organized sports. For many teen or adult sport leagues, mouthguards are a requirement to play. However, the same guidelines don’t apply for about 80% of organized sports for children. This leaves them open to dental emergencies because their mouths are left unprotected. Even though many contact sports with children aren’t that rough, they are still rough enough to cause a major dental problem.

The National Youth Sports Safety Foundation (NYSSF) reports that players are 60 times more likely to sustain a dental injury if they don’t wear a mouthguard. Those injuries generally include broken or cracked teeth as well as a knocked-out tooth. That can be devastating to a child’s smile, especially if the tooth is a permanent one that has just come in.

Another—although rare—dental emergency can happen with children if they are hit in the mouth and a tooth goes up into the gums. This is called a “tooth intrusion” and it happens more often in children because a child’s jaws are not as hard as a teen or adult’s. The alveolar bones that hold the tooth sockets in place are softer, which can leave them open to having a tooth hit upwards. This injury shortens the tooth roots and can make a tooth die, but the tooth root can also fuse to bone if the injury is not treated quickly. As we mentioned though, this injury is more rare.

Know What to Do with Dental Emergencies

Nobody wants to have a dental emergency either for themselves or for their child. However, those emergencies do happen sometimes. When a dental emergency happens, call us right away, even on weekends. There is always someone on call that can help you. We will do all that we can to help save your tooth when an injury happens. Call Mountain Aire Dentistry at (303) 731-7755 to learn more about how we help specific dental emergencies!