Hockey, Pucks, Teeth!
Dental emergencies can happen to anyone, but risks increase for both adults and children while playing sports, especially those that are high impact (eg. Hockey).
Wearing a custom made sports mouthguard, preferably one that is pressure formed, can protect teeth from most injuries.
Unfortunately, we do still see a variety of preventable injuries due to failure to wear a mouthguard, or wearing a substandard type (eg. Boil-n-bites).
One of the most dramatic injuries is an “avulsed” tooth (a tooth that is completely knocked out of the jaw).
What to do if a tooth gets knocked out
- · Do not touch the root; hold it only by the crown (the crown is the biting portion of the tooth)
- · Do not wash the tooth or rinse it or scrub it
- · Gently remove any large debris from the root, carefully
- · If you can, place the tooth back in its socket and put pressure so that it seats well into alignment
- · If you can’t put it back into its socket, hold it in your mouth under your tongue
- · If it’s a child’s tooth and you are worried about them swallowing it, you can place it under your own tongue (fresh saliva helps keep the root cells alive)
- · If you can’t hold it in your mouth, place the tooth in milk
- · Call your dentist right away; placing the tooth back in its socket ASAP is of utmost importance