Dental trauma never happens at a convenient time, especially for children and young adults. If you have a dental emergency please call us at: (978) 462-2227
The information below will give you a brief overview of the most common types of dental injuries that we see:
- Intrusion – An intrusion injury is one where a tooth or teeth are push inward toward the gum line. If your child has an intrusion injury or you suspect that they may have an intrusion injury, please contact us right away. Because the body begins the healing process rapidly, if an intruded tooth is not treated quickly, it may not be possible to move the tooth back to its original position if too much time has elapsed between the time of the injury and the time of treatment.
- Luxation – a luxation is similar to an intrusion, except that in a luxation, the tooth is pushed forward or pushed backward. Once again, time is critical because if the tooth begins to heal in the moved position, we might not be able to reposition it.
- Avulsion – an avulsion is the situation where an adult tooth has been knocked out completely. If an adult tooth is avulsed, please contact us immediately. If the adult tooth is dirty (e.g. it has fallen in the mud) – do not wash the adult tooth and do not scrub or clean the adult tooth off. In this situation, place the adult tooth in milk or in saliva in a cup if milk is not available. If the adult tooth is clean (e.g. it has fallen in the grass) you can attempt to replace the adult tooth in the socket. If the adult tooth slides in easily, you can hold the adult tooth in place until you see us for treatment. If the adult tooth does not slide in easily, do not force the adult tooth. If a baby tooth is avulsed, we recommend NOT reimplanting the tooth to prevent further injury to the developing permanent tooth.
- Please note that even with quick and early treatment, avulsed teeth usually have a very poor long-term prognosis and will often need to be extracted and restored with another treatment modality such as a dental implant or a fixed bridge.
- Fractured teeth – a fractured tooth can range from a tooth with a small chip, to a tooth that is broken at the gum line and needs to be extracted. The treatment for fractured teeth thus depends upon the extent of the fracture. For small to medium chips we are often able to bond the teeth with tooth-colored filling material. However, for teeth with extensive damage, an extraction may be indicated.
