What Happens When A Child Damages A Tooth?

Posted July 24, 2025

Accidents happen, and sometimes these can leave kids with a chipped, cracked, or broken tooth. When this happens, treatment in a timely manner is crucial for keeping complications like tooth decay and infection at bay. In today’s blog, your Dallas, TX, pediatric dentist talks about what happens when a child damages a tooth, and how we can help with emergency dentistry and restorative treatments.

Responding to Your Child’s Injury

When your child injures a tooth, don’t panic! You should have them rinse with warm water and you can use a piece of gauze or cloth to stem any bleeding. See if you can recover any pieces of the tooth and if so, bring them to our office with you. If this isn’t possible, don’t worry, we can still repair your child’s tooth.

You can provide a cold compress to ease facial swelling, and also an age-appropriate over-the-counter pain reliever. You should then call our office. If you can reach us during our normal office hours, we may be able to see your little one same-day or the next day. If you reach us outside of our normal operating hours, leave a message and a team member will call you back with possible appointment times.

Scheduling an Emergency Dental Visit

When a tooth is injured, treatment is needed to prevent the onset of cavities or an infection. If your little one sustains a facial injury and no damage is visible, consider an appointment anyway as dental fractures could be invisible to the naked eye, but still leave teeth vulnerable to serious complications.

Examining the Tooth

Our team will help your child feel calm and relaxed, talking them through the exam as we assess the cause and extent of the injury. We will examine the tooth with digital imaging technology, so we can make a diagnosis with precision and plan treatment in detail. We can then choose the right option to repair the tooth!

Anesthesia and Sedation

We may need to conduct restorative treatment, which could include everything from a filling to a root canal alternative known as a pulpotomy. We want to ensure your little one is comfortable throughout the process, so we can administer a local numbing agent. Our team can also discuss sedation to help anxious kids or those with special needs feel calm and relaxed, with little to no memory of the procedure.

Dental Fillings

Our dental fillings are made from a metal-free material known as composite resin, which is more lifelike in appearance and biocompatible, bonding with the tooth. In addition to treating tooth decay, the composite resin can help address minor damage. Our team will numb the tooth and then apply the material in several layers. Next, we sculpt and mold the composite resin as the material cures under a light. We then polish the tooth for a more natural appearance. The total process only takes one visit.

Crowns

If your child has a more substantial injury, then our team could provide care with a dental crown. The restoration will cap the tooth and take on serious breakage or fractures. We could choose a stainless-steel option for the side and rear teeth, which must endure greater bite forces. For the more front facing teeth, we may opt for a more lifelike NuSmile zirconia material.

Pulpotomies

If the injury is severe, we may need to conduct a root canal alternative known as a pulpotomy. This allows our team to open the tooth and remove any compromised or infected inner tissues. We then add a special restorative filling material. For some, this completes the process while others may need us to cap the tooth with a dental crown.

Our team is also happy to talk about custom mouthguards for kids who play full contact sports to lower the risk of injuries. If you have any questions about how we take on emergency dental issues and how we repair smiles with our restorative treatment options, then contact our office to learn more. We want to help your kids smile with confidence and avoid complications like tooth decay and infection!

PDC Kids Provides Emergency Dentistry and Restorative Dentistry

When a tooth is cracked or broken, we can help preserve it and stop discomfort for kids of all ages. To find out more about how we repair and restore little smiles, call Pediatric Dental Care at Casa Linda in Dallas, TX, today at (214) 321-4880. With restorative dentistry and emergency dental care, we can safeguard little smiles in our community.