Three Signs Your Sporting Injuring Requires An Emergency Dentist Visit

Dentist Blog

The opportunity to get outside and involved in community sport every month of the year is one benefit of living in Australia. However, as a parent new to community sport, you must know about protecting your child's teeth during gameplay. Mouthguards are strongly recommended by the Australian Dental Association, but even when wearing a mouthguard, oral accidents do happen. So, if your child suffers a mouth injury while playing a sport, which injuries need emergency dentist attention and which ones can wait until Monday? Use these three tips to help you make this determination.

Displaced Tooth

A tooth which has been completely knocked from the mouth is not a situation that can wait. An immediate visit to an emergency dentist makes a difference in saving the tooth. If possible, ask your child to put the displaced tooth back into the socket it was ejected from. Get the child to place their tongue against the tooth to keep it in place while you drive to the dentist. If the tooth is dirty, place it into a container of milk to keep the tooth roots from drying out while you transport your child to the dentist's office. Once there, the dentist determines whether the tooth can be permanently reinserted or not based on the amount of damage sustained by the tooth and the socket.

Cracked Tooth

Another common sports injury is a cracked tooth. This is often caused by the tooth coming into contact with a ball or body part. A cracked tooth does need dental attention but can often wait until normal dentist hours. However, if the cracked tooth bleeds continually and the blood flow cannot be stopped, then a trip to the emergency dentist is warranted. Likewise, if the crack reaches up to the gum and there is pain emitting from this area, then it is important to have an emergency dentist check for any obvious nerve damage.

Jaw Pain

Jaw pain after gameplay is treatable by painkillers. But, if these are ineffective then a trip to the emergency dentist is worth considering. Jaw pain may be caused by an unseen dental injury and that injury is often only diagnosed after a professional examination. It may also be necessary for the dentist to take x-rays to discover the source of the pain. This is a grey area situation for an emergency dentist visit because it depends on how much pain is occurring. Use your parental gut instinct for this situation, but always err on the side of caution and make a weekend dental visit if intense pain is involved.

Now that you have more knowledge about sports injuries, you know what to do if it happens to your child. Look for an emergency dentist now to be prepared. 

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27 October 2020

Dental Checkups: Preparing for Your Checkup

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