ACCIDENTS

• Find the missing tooth if you can.

• Hold the tooth by the crown (white bit) and avoid touching the root (the yellow bit).

• If the tooth is dirty, wash it briefly for 10 seconds under cold running water.

• Replant the tooth immediately and bite on a handkerchief to keep the tooth in position.

• If the tooth cannot be replanted, it can be temporarily stored in the patient’s mouth, tucked between the back teeth and the cheek. Do not use this technique for young children who may swallow the tooth. Instead get the patient to spit in a container and place the tooth in it. Alternatively, place the tooth in milk or saline. Do not store the tooth in water!

• Call us and seek dental treatment immediately.

• IDEALLY THE TOOTH NEEDS TO BE REPLANTED IN LESS THAN 30-60 MINUTES.

If you cannot find the tooth, it may be somewhere in the mouth, in the lip, tongue, or even in the object the patient collided with. If you still can’t find it, it may have been pushed right in out of sight (intruded), inhaled, or swallowed. We will always look for it during an accident examination.

Crooked or out of position tooth

• A tooth may be knocked out of its correct position. It may be twisted, moved sideways, forwards, backwards, pushed further in (shorter) or moved out (longer).

• It is often difficult for the patient to bite their back teeth together normally. It may also be painful to bite.

• Sometimes there is bleeding around the gum line of the tooth.



• Call us and seek dental treatment as soon as possible.

• If you can find the broken fragments, keep them! Often the patient will feel the bits of broken tooth in their mouth. These can sometimes be re-attached using bonding.

• If there is bleeding from the middle of the fractured area or you can see a small pink spot, call us and seek dental treatment immediately.

• If there is no bleeding from the tooth, treatment is not urgent but should still be sought as soon as possible.



Below are before and after pictures of a dentist’s young daughter who broke her incisor tooth. She managed to find the broken piece and we ‘rebonded’ it. A year later, she broke the tooth again. The bond was so strong that this time a smaller piece broke off. The glue stayed intact. Now she is much more careful on waterslides.

•  A tooth may be loose but still in its normal position.

• Sometimes there is bleeding around the gum line of the tooth.



• Treatment is not urgent but preferably see a dentist within 48 hours.

• Apply direct pressure to the bleeding area with a clean cloth.

• If swelling is present, place cold compresses.



• If bleeding does not stop, go to your nearest hospital accident and emergency clinic.