What Is Dental Trauma?
Dental trauma is an injury resulting from an accident or from playing sports. These types of dental injuries range from minor to severe. For example, a minor traumatic dental injury would include chipped teeth. In comparison, severe dental injuries include dislodged teeth. To learn more about the various types of traumatic dental injury, read our blog post here.
Who Is At Risk For Dental Trauma?
According to research, over 5 million individuals experience dislodged teeth each year. That is a startling number of dental patients needing treatment for traumatic dental injuries.
Whether the dental injury is minor or severe, it is essential to seek a dental examination to ensure the tooth’s integrity is intact. Dental injuries occur at any age but are more frequent among children and teenagers.
Biking or car accidents also cause traumatic dental injuries that require immediate attention. Weak, loose, or damaged teeth also cause issues relating to a person’s mouth, lips, and jawbones. After an accident, an individual may develop TMJD or temporomandibular joint disorder. TMJD is extremely painful and can limit teeth and jaw function to where a person cannot speak or chew.
Diagnosing and Treating Traumatic Dental Injuries
Dental x-rays and a visual examination can diagnose a dental injury due to contact sports, car accidents, or falls. One should keep any missing tooth and bring it to their dental visit. As replanting primary teeth can cause more damage, place the dislodged tooth in saliva or cold milk to preserve the tooth while going to the dentist. Placing the tooth or teeth in saliva or cold milk will aid in making molds and determine what kind of trauma the tooth and jaw underwent during the fall, an accident, or while playing a sport.
Depending on the type of trauma, treatments will vary. In some cases, there will be ongoing treatments to ensure the tooth replacement is adhering to the gum, or the oral device assists in ensuring teeth and jaw integrity.
Treatment of Dental Trauma With Dr. Pollock
Treating traumatic dental injuries allows individuals with broken, chipped, or otherwise damaged teeth or jaws to find relief from pain and regain full function of their mouth and jaws. Contact the team at Rockwall Oral Surgery to discuss treatment options.
Ready to make your dental goals a reality? Our team is eager to assist our patients with personalized dental trauma treatment options. Contact Dr. Pollock at Rockwall Oral Surgery to schedule a dental appointment. We are available by phone at (469) 264-8921 or email at info@dentalimplantsurgery.com.
We look forward to helping people find relief from their traumatic dental injuries!
