What to Do When Your Child Has a Dental Emergency

Posted June 19, 2020

The prevention of things like tooth decay and other consequences of oral bacteria buildup are often the main focus of your child’s preventive oral health care routine. However, there is no dental treatment that can prevent a dental emergency from occurring. Fortunately, if your child has a dental emergency, there are ways to help prevent the situation from getting worse and having a more negative impact on your child’s long-term oral health.

The nature of your child’s dental emergency

Dental emergency is a collective term, and it can describe a wide range of different concerns with your child’s teeth, oral tissues, and/or oral structures. For example, your child may experience damage to one or more of their teeth due to accidental trauma, or as a result of a condition like bruxism (chronic teeth-grinding). In some emergency situations, the concern may involve sudden, severe pain in or around a tooth, despite no recent (or apparent) trauma. If your child complains of discomfort, or if you notice any damage to your child’s teeth, or bleeding in their oral tissues, then it may be time to schedule an emergency dental visit.

Treating the concern as soon as possible

Though a dental emergency can mean many different things, the fact that it’s an emergency means your child’s dental concern should be addressed as soon as possible. The extent of damage to your child’s tooth structure or oral tissues will depend on the nature of the emergency, as will the extent of treatment your child may need to properly address the problem. However, by seeking emergency treatment as soon as possible, you can help your child mitigate the threat to their immediate and long-term oral health, as well as help minimize the extent of their emergency dental treatment.

Steps to take in the meantime

In many types of dental emergencies, symptoms such as severe pain in or around your child’s tooth might be common. While scheduling an emergency dental visit can help your child recover faster, you may be able to help them reduce the discomfort and mitigate any further dental damage until their emergency dental visit with these few steps:

• Have your child hold an ice pack or cold compress to the side of their mouth to reduce pain and swelling.
• Have your child rinse their mouth carefully with warm water to clear away any debris from the damaged tooth.
• If the tooth is knocked out, collect and carefully rinse the tooth, then place it in a small container with milk and bring it your child’s emergency appointment.
• If bleeding occurs, have your child bite gently down on clean, moist gauze to staunch the bleeding.
• Avoid giving your child anything to eat or drink until after their emergency dental appointment.

Call us if your child has a dental emergency

When your child has a dental emergency, taking immediate steps and scheduling an emergency visit are important to mitigating the situation. To learn more, schedule an appointment by calling Pediatric Dental Care at Casa Linda in Dallas, TX today at 214-321-4880. We proudly serve patients who live around Casa Linda and all surrounding Dallas communities.