What to Do Before You Visit an Emergency Dentist for an Avulsed Tooth

An emergency dentist can replace an avulsed (knocked out) tooth for you if you suffer a traumatic dental accident. And, provided you reach an emergency dentist within a short time, your tooth may successfully reintegrate with your mouth and achieve a full recovery. To ensure that you and your tooth are ready for the emergency dentist, carry out the following actions.

Pick the tooth up carefully

Never pick knocked out teeth up by their roots. Always pick teeth up by the crown. Connective tissues called ligaments, as well as cells, cover the surface of tooth roots. So if you pick up a tooth by its roots, you could damage the connective tissues and nerves. This could hinder the tooth's ability to reintegrate with its socket after reimplantation.

With clean hands and fingers, pick a knocked-out tooth up by its crown and examine it. If the tooth's root is intact, then you may be able to re-implant the tooth successfully. And even if the tooth crown is damaged, you may still be able to salvage it. But your emergency dentist will need to perform a root canal and repair the tooth after they have reimplanted it.

Remove dirt from the tooth gently

If your tooth falls out on the floor, you'll need to remove the dirt from it. However, remember not to scrub or wipe the root of the tooth because you might damage the connective ligaments in the process. The best liquids to clean an avulsed tooth with are either saline solution or milk. But if neither of these options is available, then hold the tooth under a gently-running tap to remove dirt.

Try to reimplant the tooth

The best time to reimplant an avulsed tooth is immediately or within an hour. During this time, the chances of saving a tooth are good. But if you are in considerable pain or the bleeding from the wound won't stop, then you'll need to have the emergency dentist reimplant the tooth for you. Whether you or your dentist reimplant the tooth, an emergency dentist can use a splint for stabilization.

Store the tooth

If you cannot reimplant an avulsed tooth yourself, then you'll need to store that tooth and then get to an emergency dentist as soon as you can. Try to avoid storing your tooth in water since water can cause the cells on the surface of a root to expand and burst. Milk is the best liquid for storing teeth in because it keeps the environment from becoming acidic. Its sugars can also help to nourish a tooth.

Place the liquid into a bag along with your tooth and get to your emergency dentist as soon as possible.