Are You Sick?

Is this your symptom?

• Injury to a tooth (or teeth)

Symptoms

• The main symptom is pain.
• Minor bleeding from the gums may occur.

Types of Tooth Injuries

• Loosened Tooth. May bleed a little from the gums. Usually tightens up on its own.
• Displaced Tooth. Usually pushed inward. Needs to be seen.
• Chipped Tooth. Minor fracture in a small corner of tooth. The fracture goes to the dentin (yellow color), not the pulp (red color). Not painful. See dentist during office hours.
• Fractured Tooth. The fracture goes down to the pulp. The pulp is where the blood supply and nerves to the tooth are. The main finding is a red dot or bleeding in the center of the tooth. Very painful. Needs a root canal to save the tooth.
• Knocked-Out Tooth. A dental emergency. Needs to be re-implanted within 2 hours. Hold the tooth by the crown (the white part that sticks out from the gum) and clean it by rinsing under running water. You can try pushing the tooth back in place yourself and then bite on a clean piece of cloth to hold it in place until you see the dentist. Or, you can keep it in some milk or in the space between your lip and your gum until you can see the dentist. Take care not to swallow it.
• Lost tooth. If you have had an injury and a tooth has been knocked out and you can't find the tooth, there is a possibility that you could have swallowed or inhaled the tooth into the lung.
• If you know you have swallowed it, there is nothing that can be done to get it back. It will pass through your bowel without any problem.
• If there is a possibility that you could have inhaled it, you should get a chest X-ray to see if it can be seen in the airway. This is more common in children, elderly patients, mentally challenged patients, and those suffering from neurological disorders. If the tooth is in the airway, it will need to be removed to prevent you from getting a serious lung infection.