Dental trauma in children and teenagers: what to do and how to act

What should I do if my child, for whatever reason, breaks a tooth?

When little ones play sport, play in the park or decide to do some home-made parkour to beat boredom, unexpected accidents end up happening. Falls cause knocks that can lead to damage of greater or varying extent to the teeth, gums or bones. Most injuries, as we mentioned earlier, happen at home, during sport or at school. That is why it is important to know how to act in the most appropriate way to limit the damage.

What should you do?

• Examine the soft areas: lips, cheeks, palate and tongue.
• Check all the teeth and see whether there are any asymmetries, deformities, wounds or fractures.
• Touch each tooth to feel whether any tooth is loose.

1. Tooth fracture: If one or more pieces of a tooth break off, you should keep the fragment in saline solution or, if you do not have any to hand, keep it in milk or in the person’s own saliva until the dental assessment. Avoid putting it in water.
2. Complete avulsion: If the whole tooth comes out, root included, you should clean the tooth as quickly as possible with saline solution and put the tooth back in its socket. If you cannot clean it, keep the tooth and take it to the dentist as soon as possible. This option has a very good long-term outlook.

However, it is important to see the dentist, because the fracture may not look serious at first sight, but a professional dental assessment is needed to establish a suitable treatment plan and avoid further consequences for the patient, both aesthetic and functional.