Dental Trauma and Tooth Resorption

Tooth Concussion: impact injury to your tooth that may result in sore or bleeding gums, pain on biting or possible temperature sensitivity. A concussed tooth typically does not feel loose nor is it loose or mobile.

Chipped Tooth: if you’ve chipped a front tooth, it likely can be repaired with a dental filling or crown. Those chipped teeth with cold or hot sensitivity or nerve exposure require special attention and sometimes endodontic treatment.

Dislodged (Luxated) Tooth: depending on the direction or location of mouth injury, a tooth may be pushed sideways, in-to or out of its usual position. Your endodontist may reposition the tooth, stabilize or brace the tooth and place medicine inside as part of a root canal treatment to relieve your tooth pain and save the natural tooth.

Root Fracture: a traumatic injury to your tooth may also cause a horizontal root fracture, noticed as a loose tooth and/or painful or bleeding gums. As with a dislodged tooth, stabilization with a splint is sometimes required.

We do everything we can to restore your natural tooth quickly, while keeping you comfortable. The length of time the tooth was out of your mouth and the way the tooth was stored will influence the type of treatment needed.

What to do if you knock out a tooth? Handle a knocked-out tooth carefully, only touching the crown (the white part) and not the root surface. It is important to minimize drying of the tooth and immediately replant if possible.

Replantation of an Adult or Permanent Tooth: often replanting the tooth back into the socket within 15 minutes at the place of accident increases chances of success. If dirty, rinse with milk, saline, or saliva before immediately replanting. Do not use regular water. Following replantation, bite on gauze, handkerchief or napkin to hold in place – then contact us immediately.

If on-site replantation is not possible: Keep the tooth moist by placing in milk, saliva (after spitting into a cup for instance) or saline and contact us immediately. Do not store in water.

Trauma to a children’s primary teeth or “baby teeth” is treated differently than adult teeth. Primary teeth that have been knocked out typically should not be replanted as it may damage the permanent tooth growing below. Therefore these baby teeth are most appropriately treated by a child’s general dentist or pediatric dental specialist (pedodontist).

Children’s permanent teeth that are not fully developed at the time of injury need special attention, though may not need root canal treatment. Despite injury, incompletely formed roots of a permanent tooth can continue to develop on their own, but require close follow-up. Sometimes endodontic procedures known as apexogenesis, apexification, or regenerative endodontic procedures are necessary to promote continued tooth development with the ultimate goal of reducing risk of a cracked or fractured root later in life.

When it comes to dental trauma, every minute matters. The ToothSOS mobile app is an excellent resource at your fingertips, providing step-by-step guides to follow immediately after the injury occurs. The app is available to download for iPhone or Android.