Kids spend a lot of their time running and playing. This puts them at great risk of being hurt. At times, the injuries may be in the mouth and/or teeth. Indeed, quite a number of calls for urgent dental care London parents make are due to their kids’ emergencies. Thus if you are a parent with active kids, it is important to be ready for dental emergencies. In this article, you will find information on how to deal with those situations as well as possible.
The best way to handle a dental emergency
There is a certain standard course of action you need to take if your kid gets injured in the mouth or teeth. In that regard, you need to:
- Assess whether there is any bleeding
- In case there is bleeding, stop it (by gently applying pressure around it)
- Use an antiseptic rinse to clean the area where the wound is present. If you don’t have an antiseptic rinse, you may use salt water.
- Now carefully assess the injury’s severity
- Ensure that the child is seen by a dentist as fast as possible
Sometimes, you may notice that there is some swelling on the child’s face, due to the mouth/teeth injury. What you need to do in this case is try to minimize the swelling by placing an ice pack on the face. If you don’t have an ice pack, you can use a cold compress instead.
At this point, the kid is likely to be in pain and worried about what is likely to happen next. So it is very essential to offer them reassurance, about the dentist’s ability to resolve the discomfort they are going through. You may do this on the way to, say, the urgent dental care clinic London you opted to take the kid to. Thus while driving to the clinic, you ensure that you are in the meantime offering the child reassurance.
There are cases where the injury may be such that the child, unfortunately, lost a tooth. What will happen next depends on what type of tooth it is. If it is a baby tooth, there is usually no need for its reattachment. But if it is a permanent tooth, the dentist may opt to reattach it. You thus need to carry it with you. Just ensure that you don’t touch the tooth’s root at any point. If possible, place the tooth in the location within the child’s mouth where it was detached from. Otherwise, carry it in a cup that has some saliva or milk. The goal is to keep it moist and hence viable for reattachment if the dentist opts to take that route.
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How to set up a dental first aid kit
You will be better placed to handle kids’ dental emergencies if you have a dental first aid kit.
There are two categories of items that need to be in the dental first aid kit. First, it needs to have the standard items found in all first aid boxes. Over and above those standard items, it also needs to have some special items for dental injuries.
At the very least, ensure that your dental first aid kit contains:
- Some gauze
- Mouthwash cup (this should be small in size)
- The actual mouthwash
- A container where you can store a broken tooth
- Cold compress
After setting up the dental first aid kit, be sure to keep it in an easily accessible location.
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Urgent dental clinic visits for kids
It is essential to promptly take kids who suffer face injuries for emergency dental clinic visits. It is therefore important for you to know at least one urgent dental care clinic London, where you can take kids (if you are in London). Whatever other location you may be in, identify suitable urgent dental care clinics you can visit on an emergency basis.
It is important to note that if you delay too much, a tooth that would have been saved/reattached may be permanently lost. Thus as soon as you take the right first aid steps, the next course of action should be to get the child to a dentist as fast as possible.
The visit to a dental clinic for kids with face injuries serves a number of purposes. Firstly, it can help prevent what would be otherwise nasty infections. Secondly, it can help with bleeding control. Thirdly, it is an opportunity for the dentist to assess the bite. And fourthly, it can help in deciding if a dental spacer fitting is required.
At the dental clinic, there may be a need for the child’s mouth to be x-rayed. It’s at the time when the cracked tooth doesn’t look damaged at first looking it. So that is something you need to be ready for. Based on the x-ray findings, the dentist may then recommend the most ideal course of treatment.
Moreover, many sports injuries which children often suffer can be prevented using a mouthguard. So this is something you need to consider having your kids use, especially when taking part in high-impact sporting activities.
Do you need urgent dental care London? Our Emergency Dentist in London is always available to help with emergency situations.
