Contact Elmhurst Dentistry for Kids

Treating Your Child’s Dental Injury

If your child ends up with an injury to the mouth, do not panic—here are some simple ways to handle it:

• Control the bleeding first. You cannot tell what is going on if blood is covering all areas of the face and mouth. Excessive blood usually makes the injury look worse than it is, so grab some clean gauze and apply light pressure to the area to stop the bleeding.
• Rinse the mouth. Once the bleeding is under control, lightly rinse the mouth with warm water and have them spit it out. Then you can see what is going on in there.
• Apply ice to the outside of the area. If there is swelling or pain, have your child hold an ice pack covered in a thin cloth over the area to take the swelling down and decrease their pain.

Once you and your child are calm and collected, call us to discuss the injury. Remember if there are any pieces of chipped or knocked out permanent teeth, gather them by the crown of the tooth (not the roots) and keep them moist until your child can be seen. If you are unable to be seen by us immediately (in the case of a knocked out permanent tooth for example) and there is trauma to the face, go to the Emergency Room then follow up at our office for any remaining dental treatments. We’re here for you—visit our website for emergency information or give us a call!