Oral Health

Mouth Guards and Dental Emergencies

A Dental Emergency

According to the American Dental Association, the difference between saving or losing a knocked out tooth, is the thirty minutes following the incident. Get the the dentist immediately.

To save the tooth, follow these steps:

Rinse the tooth in tap water.
Avoid scrubbing the tooth.
Insert the tooth into the empty socket quickly.
If you are uncomfortable inserting the tooth, put the tooth in milk or water.
Get to the dentist immediately.

The importance of mouthguards:

A mouthguard, usually a flexible piece of plastic that fits into the mouth, should be worn during all recreational and athletic activities to protect the mouth and teeth from serious injury -- especially activities where there is contact or potential contact with another person, piece of equipment, or the ground. In particular, mouthguards should be worn during the following sports:

football
soccer
rugby
wrestling
baseball
softball
lacrosse
field hockey
ice hockey
martial arts
boxing

Some of these sports require the use of a mouthguard at the amateur level.

Many recreational activities such as skateboarding and bicycling, also pose a risk of injuring the mouth and teeth. Exercise caution during these activities.

Mouthguards and preventable injuries:

Injuries to the teeth, mouth, and head may include the following, many of which could be prevented with proper and consistent use of a mouthguard:

dislodged or knocked out tooth/teeth
concussion
cerebral hemorrhage
broken or chipped tooth
bitten or lacerated tongue and/or lip
objects caught/lodged between the teeth
jaw fracture
neck injury
jaw collision - the upper jaw gets jammed into the lower jaw

This page was last updated on: January 17, 2008.

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