While an injury to teeth may seem minor compared to other potential injuries, it can seriously affect your overall health. However, experts say that a knocked off tooth, due to an injury, can be washed with milk or salt solution and reimplanted back into its socket to save the tooth from dying, reports Sade Oguntola.
It was amazing watching a dentist the other day insert a knocked off tooth back to its place before she rushed the little girl that fell from a chair to the clinic. The conversation that followed among the mothers at the scene of the incident and the fact that the knocked off tooth could still be fixed back was overwhelming.
Injury is a potential hazard of any active lifestyle. Whether while playing sports, climbing the swing on the playground, or merely walking; there is always a risk of injury. Though not something many people regularly think about, an injury to teeth can be serious and so require a first aid treatment, just like any other injury.
Injuries to teeth and their supporting structures are common reasons children are rushed to dental clinics. For instance, fall is a significant cause of injury in preschool children unlike in older children.
Usually, more boys than girls end up sustaining injury.
Experts’ assessment of dental injury in children showed this cuts across all ages and sex. For example, a two-year study on the pattern of injury to the face and the mouth in children that came for treatment at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, dental clinic, Ile-Ife, suggested more dental injuries occur in preschool children.
In a presentation of this study done by Dr. A. T Oyedele and Dr. M. O Ukpong, at the 2010 scientific conference of the Nigerian Association of Paediatric Dentistry, falling was the most common cause of injury (53.2 per cent) followed by road traffic accident (31.9 per cent), contact injury (8.5 per cent) and fight (6.4 per cent).
In addition, experts’ assessment of injury to the teeth and its supporting structures in the age range from two to 16 years at University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, stated that fall accounted for 82.5 per cent of all causes of injury seen in this clinic and the home was the commonest place of occurrence. Usually the upper front teeth were the teeth most affected.
However, injury to a tooth can range from minor (involving chipping of the outer tooth layers called enamel and dentin) to severe (involving vertical, diagonal or horizontal fractures of the root).
Dr. Deborah Ajayi, a consultant dentist, UCH, Ibadan, describing injury to teeth as a frequent incidence, especially in children, stated that such an injury can have psychological effect, depending on the severity of the injury as well as the timeliness and quality of care provided after it occurred.
“The management of such an injury should start from where the injury occurred and that is the reason it should not be dentists alone that be knowledgeable about what to do in case of any injury to the teeth,” she explained.
“You can imagine a child with bleeding mouth and fracture. It could be distressing both for the parent and children. In fact, depending on the severity of the injury, every wasted minute makes prognosis poorer.
According to her, studies have shown that between eight and 30 per cent of preschool children sustain injury to their front teeth. The possibility of such an injury peaks between ages eight and 12 years.
Although injury occurs both with the milk and permanent teeth, she explained that more teeth are lost due to injury than tooth decay in children.
She explained that though knocked out baby or primary teeth are usually not re-implanted in the mouth, since they will be naturally replaced by permanent teeth later, but knocked out permanent teeth could be retrieved, kept moist, and placed back into their sockets (re-implanted) as soon as possible.
According to her, unlike the thinking that once a tooth is knocked out, the only option that was left was articial teeth, a knocked out permanent tooth can be successfully re-implanted if such a tooth is picked up by the crown, washed either in clean salt solution or the saliva of the affected person and placed back into its socket.
“Anybody can have fall and if as a result of a fall, any of the front teeth come off and such is picked up immediately by crown, the white part of the tooth that is seen when the mouth is opened, and an attempt is made to push it back into its socket, the teeth can be saved.
“However, whoever is handling the tooth must be mindful that its root is not touched because the root has a protective layer that is called the periodontal ligament. If it picked from a bare floor, where there is sand, it can quickly be rinsed in normal salt solution and the patient or the parent that is around make a quick attempt to push it back into its socket before the person is rushed to the dental clinic.
“In a situation, there is nobody that can push the tooth back into its socket, the alternative is to store the knocked out tooth in a protective solution and take it along with the patient to the dental clinic. There are several solutions that can be used to store a fallen off tooth. This includes salt solution, milk and the albumin of an egg.
Any properly handled tooth can still be rescued and reimplanted appropriately. According to Dr. Ajayi, “it is possible to pick up that tooth and re-implant it within the maximum of 15 minutes. Such a tooth handled this way will remain in its socket without any problem.”
“But, the higher the time the tooth spends outside the mouth, the worst the chances of a successful re-implantation of a tooth. That is why it is better if the people that are around would have enough confidence to quickly rinse it in normal salt solution or even the pool of the patient’s saliva, re-implant it and immediately bringing the patient to the clinic for the clinical aspect of the management of the injury.
Dr. Ajayi stated, “This way, we are sure the tooth can still have a good chance of surviving. Several studies have been carried out that substantiated this works and that the tooth would remain as if nothing had earlier happened to it.”
“Even, if such a tooth would require treatment, much later, it is not that the tooth would be extracted or useless. It will certainly remain functional within the arch,” she explained.
A situation where a minor tooth fracture which involves chipping of the enamel occurred, she declared that such a tooth can easily be restored with materials having a similar colour so that of the chipped tooth, thus correcting the fractured tooth sharp or rough edge.
Probably the best prevention to injuries to teeth is good oral hygiene. Make sure your teeth are strong by brushing with fluoride toothpaste at least twice per day, floss regularly and maintain a healthy diet. Regular visits to the dentist can also ensure your teeth are strong and healthy.
From: Nigerian Tribune
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