What should I do if my child’s tooth is knocked off?

We all know that children usually like to go out and play. Sometimes accidents may happen when children are playing outside, such as falls, bumps, etc. Because children are young and have poor body balance, it is easy for them to hit their teeth after falling. Children's teeth are usually deciduous teeth because they have not yet replaced their teeth. So the question is, what should we do if a child's baby teeth are knocked out?

Teeth play a very important role for children and should never be taken lightly. Even if the child's broken tooth is a baby tooth, he or she needs to seek medical attention immediately. If the crown of a deciduous tooth is broken and the dental nerve is exposed, a pulpotomy is usually performed to prevent infection of the affected tooth, otherwise it will affect the development of permanent teeth in the future; if the root of a deciduous tooth is broken and the crown is not shaken much, it can be left untreated and the condition can be observed.

There are also some considerations as to whether or not to extract a child's injured teeth. If the shaking is severe, the broken tooth should be extracted, and the broken root can be left untreated as it will be slowly absorbed. If the deciduous tooth is completely embedded in the alveolar socket and the embedding direction is biased towards the palate, and the dental X-ray shows that the root apex of the deciduous tooth is inclined towards the permanent tooth germ, the deciduous tooth should be extracted to avoid possible damage to the permanent tooth germ.

In addition to deciduous teeth, permanent teeth can also be damaged due to many factors. Dental trauma can manifest itself in various forms and with varying degrees of damage. The physiological and anatomical characteristics of young permanent teeth determine that they are more susceptible to secondary diseases after trauma than fully developed permanent teeth, such as pulp necrosis and apical periodontitis. Therefore, as long as the child's teeth are impacted by external force, whether they are loose, fallen out, or damaged, you should ask a specialist to check and treat them as soon as possible. Many serious secondary diseases can be prevented.

After a tooth is broken, be careful about how it is preserved. If the broken tooth (fragment) is large in size and relatively complete in shape, it can be glued to its original position. Compared with restoration using only resin materials, this method is closer to natural teeth in shape and color, and the aesthetic effect of the restoration is better. Such fragments should be kept moist and can be soaked in saline for later use.

When problems arise, time is of the essence. Whether a completely lost tooth can be successfully "replanted" depends largely on the extent of damage to the periodontal membrane, which is a layer of tissue connecting the surface of the tooth to the surrounding bone. Dryness is the main cause of damage, so if there is no dirt on the surface of the fallen tooth, you can simply rinse it with saline and put it back where it fell (into the alveolar socket). The longer the periodontal membrane stays outside the body, the more necrosis it will experience, so treatment is needed as soon as possible.