“Momma said knock you out!”

As adults we’ve all had that dreaded thought of losing our adult teeth not only to cavities or because the dentist has a fetish of removing our “pearly whites”. However I’m no dentist so I’m not going to focus on how to keep your teeth clean, but I would say that this is focused on those who look after very active kids or for those like to play sports where you are likely to lose your teeth such as martial arts, hockey, football (both kinds), cricket… the list goes on.

Firstly when a tooth is knocked out of place is called an avulsed tooth (avulsed means a body structure which is forced out of its point of origin) this doesn’t matter much when it happens to a small child that has their primary/baby teeth forced out, so parents do not panic. Nevertheless when it is adult teeth that are avulsed take extra precaution in how you deal with the situation.

With secondary (adult) teeth are knocked out, believe it or not you are able to replant the tooth back into its socket (really?!… Yes really) as soon as possible. If you are not able to replant the tooth, ask the casualty to keep the tooth inside of his/her cheek if they are able to, or if there is milk available you can place the tooth in there so that it doesn’t dry out. *DISCLAIMER*you mustn’t manage the tooth by the root only by the crown, if the tooth is dirty rinse it off in cold clean water for 10 seconds.

Now in all this ideally you would want the casualty to replant their own tooth if they are able to, if they are brave to do this, place a gauze pad/handkerchief/clean material in between the bottom and top teeth and have the casualty bite down the material and take the casualty to the dentist or hospital.

I am still trying to convince my 2 year old that the toothbrush is not a spawn of Satan, but what I can assure you is that the faster you respond to this type of casualty, the likely hood of needing a dental implant decreases.