Question: What should I do if my child has a dental emergency?
Explanation: Children’s dental emergencies differ from adults’ in important ways. A knocked-out baby tooth is never replanted, as this risks damaging the developing permanent tooth bud. A knocked-out permanent tooth should be replanted immediately or stored in milk. Children’s teeth have large pulps and thin enamel, so fractures expose the pulp more readily and need faster treatment. Intruded baby teeth need urgent radiographic assessment. Always consider whether the injury is consistent with the history, as facial injuries can sometimes indicate non-accidental injury.
Related Questions:
Should a knocked-out baby tooth be put back?
Never. Replanting a primary tooth risks damaging the permanent successor developing directly beneath it. The socket heals spontaneously. Take the child for assessment to check for retained root fragments and to discuss whether a space maintainer is appropriate.
How do I tell whether the tooth is a baby tooth or an adult tooth?
Baby teeth are smaller, whiter, and have smoother, rounder edges. Adult front teeth typically erupt from around age six to eight and have serrated edges when new. If uncertain, keep the tooth in milk and let the dentist decide. Storing a baby tooth in milk does no harm.
Are children’s dental injuries treated differently?
Substantially. Immature roots have open apices and rich blood supplies, so pulps heal and revascularise far more readily. Vital pulp therapy is favoured over root canal treatment. Splinting periods and follow-up regimens also differ. Paediatric dental trauma has its own established protocols.
« Back to Glossary Index