Emergency! What to do if I got a knocked out tooth?

It is quite common to get a teeth knocked out. It is estimated that about 178 million people in the United States are missing at least one tooth. This can happen for several reasons: decay, trauma, gum sickness, genetics.  When a tooth is knocked out there’s still hope for it! The most important thing is to act FAST. These are some of the things you can do in such an emergency.

 

• The first half an hour is critical to restore the tooth on its place.
• If you still have it in your mouth, try put it back in its socket carefully. Try to insert it back and push it down gently by biting softly or guiding it with your fingers. Don’t force it!
• Don’t touch the root of your tooth directly. If you must pick it up, touch it from the crown. Damaging the root will significantly drop your chances of successfully reattach it back to its socket.
• If it fell to the ground, don’t leave it there and rinse it quickly with clean water. Also, don’t use soap or detergents! Simple water will do. Don’t scrub it either.
• Don’t put the tooth on a napkin! You need to keep it moist and the napkin will do the contrary. Place it on a cup of milk (or with water with a pinch of salt if you don’t have milk). There are small specialized containers to keep teeth moist after they fall but you most likely won’t have one at hand.
• Get to the dentist immediately. Time is important! If you get to your dentist in less than 30 minutes the prognosis for recovery is excellent. You still have a high chance of saving the knocked out tooth up to an hour after the incident. Don’t waste any time.

Remember, some of the consequences of missing teeth are related to the way you eat… it can significantly affect your nutrition leading to either obesity, diabetes, malnutrition, etc. Also, with a missing tooth, the space left behind provokes the other teeth to shift and start losing bone volume on the affected area and become prone to disease… making them more prone to fall off themselves.

Most people don’t know these little tips could have saved their tooth. Or perhaps the tooth simply didn’t managed to attach back to the bone and now it’s gone forever. For these cases, you don’t have to worry about your smile anymore. Over the last few decades the dentists have developed and improved the technology of titanium dental implants to replace missing teeth.

 

We have placed over 5000 dental implants over the last decade at our dental clinic in Cancun. If you wish to recover your old smile, we can help. Send us your x-ray, photos or even CT-scans and we will give you a free evaluation of your case.  If you want to know more about our services call toll free from USA and Canada 1-800-565-1424, or if you are already on vacation in Cancun and have an emergency, you can call us at following local number (998) 1-40-51-25.

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