What to Do if You Knock Out a Tooth

Collaborative post

There is nothing more alarming than the panic you feel when a tooth is wobbly, but the panic you’ll feel with a blunt force injury and a tooth knocked out of your head is a totally different type. Suddenly, you’re in pain and there’s a cold gap in your mouth that wasn’t there before! 

What do you do? Do you go to the urgent dentist or do you try to somehow wiggle the tooth back in? Well, you cannot physically put a tooth back into your mouth once you knock it out, but you definitely can book a dental appointment. You should also try not to panic too much because there are options! From dental implants to dentures, crowns and bridges, there are ways that you can literally bridge that new gap in your mouth. Knocking out a – what you think is solid – adult tooth is not the nicest thing to deal with but it’s definitely something you shouldn’t ignore. So, let’s take a look at what you should do if you knock out a tooth of yours.

1. Keep hold of the tooth. If you knock out your tooth and you can get hold of it, don’t throw it away. The ideal thing is to keep hold of it and bring it to the dentist because in some cases, a knocked-out tooth can be reattached! You can put it back into the empty socket to keep it safe and the socket clean, but make a point of rinsing it clean before you do it just in case you add dirt to your gums. 
2. Don’t touch the root. No matter what, you should never touch the root of the tooth to keep it unharmed. Don’t forget to put the tooth into a glass of milk or saline if you have it. Bring the entire cup with you to the dentist and they’ll do their best to reattach it. You want to keep it clean and don’t forget, a knocked out tooth does constitute a medical emergency!
3. Stay calm. You do not need to go into a huge panic if your tooth gets knocked out. Staying calm is the best thing that you can do because it’ll prevent further trauma from occuring in the midst of all that cortisol stress running through your brain. Dentists will always work with you to ensure that major emergencies are treated on the same day that they are brought in, so speak to your dentist at the earliest opportunity. 

Once you have had your options given to you, you can do everything possible to prevent any further dental trauma. Mouth guards can protect your teeth during sport (or overnight, if you thrash!) and you can also be more vigilant about falls by pushing your hands out in front of you. Speak to your dentist so that you can know what to do for next time. If you are offered a permanent fix, take it so that you don’t have to worry about your smile being left with a gap!