Dental Trauma 101: Everything You Need to Know
Dental trauma or injury can happen at any time due to accidents, falls, or direct impact to the mouth. When these traumatic injuries occur, it is crucial to seek immediate dental treatment to save your teeth and preserve oral health.
What is Dental Trauma?
Before seeking out treatment for Dental trauma in Westchester, NY, it is vital to know what it is and how it occurs. Dental trauma is any injury to the teeth, gums, supporting bone, soft tissues found in the lips and tongue. These injuries are a result of a direct impact on the mouth whether through falls or accidents.
Some of the dental trauma, such as chips are minor and require no immediate treatment. However, you may experience severe dental injury; how soon you access dental trauma services near you will make all the difference. It can determine if your teeth can be saved or not.
What Are the Types of Dental Trauma?
Dental trauma can occur in three ways:
1. Dental injuries
Dental injuries affect the teeth directly, and they may include:
- Tooth fracture
This is a crack or breaks on the outer layer of the teeth (enamel). The enamel protects the dentin and the pulp chamber from injury. The tooth fracture can be minor and cause no pain.
The fracture can occur in different ways, such as:
- Craze lines are shallow cracks that do not cause any pain.
- A cracked tooth which happens when the cracks affect the chewing surface of the teeth.
- A split tooth is when the tooth cracks through the tooth, separating the tooth in two.
The treatment of a tooth fracture will depend on the severity. Usually, no treatment is required for a minor fracture. But at times, you may develop discoloration on the enamel, which can be solved by using a resin.
- Enamel fracture or a chip
These are injuries that affect only the enamel and does not extend to the pulp. The chips are irregular and can be bonded using resin.
- Root fracture
Vertical root structure occurs when the tooth starts to crack, starting at the root and extends to the chewing surface. These fractures commonly occur in root-filled or restored teeth, such as after a root canal.
The pain is mild to moderate. But, you may experience discomfort when biting food.
2. Periodontal injuries
These are injuries that affect the periodontal tissues, and they include:
- Dental subluxation.
This is when the tooth is loosened, but not yet displaced from the tooth socket. You may experience bleeding along the gum line. There may also be tooth sensitivity when touched.
- Concussion.
This is when the teeth are injured but are not loosened or displaced. There is no pain, but your tooth may feel sensitive. No treatment is necessary, but the dentist may monitor the tooth and pulp a year.
- Luxation
This is the displacement of the teeth, and it occurs in three ways:
- Extrusive luxation. This is when the tooth is mobile but is still intact in the bony socket. For treatment, the dentist will clean the exposed surface of the root and gently reposition the tooth in the socket and stabilize it with a flexible splint. If the pulp is infected, the dentist may perform root canal therapy.
- Lateral luxation is the fracture of the alveolar bone.
- Intrusive luxation occurs when the tooth is pushed upward into the socket.
- Dental avulsion
This is the complete dislocation of the tooth from the socket, or knocked out teeth. An avulsed tooth needs immediate treatment to save the teeth. That is why it is important to seek treatment within the first hour of the trauma.
3. Soft tissues lacerations
These are injuries that affect the soft tissues located in the gums, tongue, palate, and lips. These lacerations can cause pain and increase your risk of infection. As you come for your treatment, ensure you rinse the mouth with warm salty water.
Make an Appointment
Dental trauma can occur anytime, but it is how you handle them that will make the difference. Visit Smile Scarsdale for more information on our dental trauma in Scarsdale, NY, services.