If you have experienced dental trauma
Dental trauma caused by an accident could severely affect your long-term oral health. Do not postpone your visit to our clinic if you have experienced it. Click the button below to give us a call and book an emergency dental appointment.
What is dental trauma?
Dental trauma is the injury to the teeth and the area surrounding the tooth structure: the gums, cheeks, floor of the mouth, and soft tissue of the oral cavity. Dental trauma also consists of injuries to the lips, tongue and other extra-oral soft tissues. Most cases are due to accidents, like falls, road traffic accidents, injuries from playing contact sports like boxing or getting hit by a football. Any physical impact to the face can cause a variety of dental trauma. Even consuming foods of hard consistency can lead to dental traumas. Whatever may be the cause of traumas, it is a dental emergency and must be treated as such. If you were involved in an accident or a fall and have suffered from any injuries to the face and the oral cavity, call our dental clinic immediately, and we will schedule an emergency appointment for you.
Types of Dental Trauma and what to do
Chipped or broken teeth
The tooth consists of three-layer; the outermost layer is the enamel, which is the protective, calcified outer covering of the tooth. Below the enamel is the dentin, which is much less calcified and the innermost layer or the core in the dental pulp, consisting of nerves and vessels of the tooth. When the tooth suffers through a physical injury, the enamel can chip, or the tooth’s chunk can be broken. A chipped and broken tooth can be complicated to live with; they irritate the gums, and the jagged edges can cause injury to the tongue. It also compromises the appearance of your smile. If the broken tooth has exposed the dental pulp’s nerves, it can lead to infection and cause intense pain, especially while biting down. It is therefore essential to treat chipped and broken teeth swiftly to prevent any complications.
Dental avulsion
Dental avulsion is when the tooth gets knocked out of the tooth socket. Dental avulsions can result from significant trauma of the gums and jawbone, forcing the tooth to come off the socket. The knocked-out tooth can be broken in pieces or intact, in which case the tooth can be saved by our dentist in London and reimplanted back again. Dental avulsion is a dental emergency and has to be treated immediately without any delay. Save the tooth by putting it in milk and contact our dentist immediately. Avulsed teeth can also lead to bleeding from the tooth and inflammation of the gums, which leads to severe pain.
What to do if you’ve suffered dental avulsion
You must find out the knocked-out tooth and store it in milk. After that, immediately call us, and we will schedule an urgent appointment for you. Our dentist in London will treat the injuries, clean the teeth and replace them. It some cases, it may need root canal treatment, followed by a dental crown and splinting for a few days.
Cracked tooth
A cracked tooth can result from biting down on hard substances, grinding teeth at night, trauma to teeth and even with age. It can lead to pain while chewing or biting, sensitivity to heat, cold and sweet foods and liquids. Pain may come and go; it is rarely continuous. Gums around the cracked tooth can also be inflamed, tender and painful.
What to do if you have a chipped and/or broken tooth
The tooth needs to be rebuilt with the help of dental cement or dental resins. If the dental pulp has been exposed, a root canal treatment must be carried out swiftly to prevent the infection from spreading. A dental crown follows this to strengthen and restore the function of the tooth.
Gum trauma
Dental trauma can cause gums to become lacerated, bleed profusely and be tender. Gum trauma takes a long time to heal and can be a source of infection that affects the tooth and the jawbone. It requires urgent treatment from our dentist in London.
What to do if you have suffered gum trauma
Use a clean handkerchief to stop the bleeding by biting down gently on the cloth or cotton. Next, call us and schedule an urgent appointment so that our dentist can treat the gum injury. It may need some sutures and dental dressing in extreme cases.
Fracture of the jawbone
Trauma to the face can lead to much more severe injuries like fracture of the jawbone. A fractured jawbone is extremely painful and can happen without apparent damages to the teeth or overlying soft tissues. Fractures jawbone makes talking, chewing, and everyday activities impossible and excruciatingly painful.
What to do?
Fractured jawbone needs to be reduced and brought back to its former position. After this, our dentist in London will fix it using wires and plates to allow healing and bony union.