Traumatic Injuries in Evanston, IL

Yes, as long as you act quickly. With proper emergency action, a tooth that has been knocked out can be replaced into the socket and last for years. Reimplanting within 30 minutes gives a tooth the highest chance of survival, and even past 60 minutes it's still worth attempting.

What you do in the first few moments matters more than anything else, so follow these steps:

• Locate the tooth immediately and do not touch the root of the tooth. Only touch the crown of the tooth.
• If the tooth is dirty, rinse gently with water. Do not use soap. Do not dry the tooth. Do not wrap it in a tissue or cloth. Do not scrub the tooth.
• If possible, put a permanent (adult) tooth back in the socket immediately. Never do this with a baby tooth, see below. The sooner the tooth is replaced, the greater the likelihood it will survive.
• Keep the tooth moist at all times. If the tooth cannot be replaced into the socket, it must not be left to dry. Put the tooth in milk or saline. An adult can also hold it inside the cheek, but never do this with a child, who could swallow or inhale it. Have a child spit into a clean container instead and keep the tooth in that saliva.

Then reach our office as fast as you can, and call on the way so we are ready the moment you walk in. Dr. Andre Amarante will reposition and splint the tooth. Whether it also needs root canal therapy, and when, depends on how developed the tooth's root is and on what follow-up visits show. In younger patients the pulp sometimes heals on its own, so we monitor closely before deciding.

Some injuries are bigger than a dental problem, and those belong at a hospital rather than a dental office. Go to the ER for any of the following:

• Loss of consciousness
• Uncontrolled bleeding
• Difficulty breathing
• A suspected jaw fracture
• Injuries involving other parts of the body

In those situations get emergency medical help first. The dental side can be handled once you are stable, and we will pick things up from there. If a tooth was knocked out in the same accident, bring it with you kept moist in milk and tell the hospital staff you have it so it does not get thrown away.

If none of that applies and the damage is limited to the teeth and mouth, call us instead. Traumatic injuries such as knocked-out, dislodged, chipped, and loosened teeth are exactly what our emergency visits are built around, and our office is equipped to treat them more specifically than most emergency rooms can.

No. Reimplanting a knocked-out baby tooth could damage the developing permanent tooth beneath it, which would be a far bigger problem than the gap left behind. This is the one situation where the advice for a child's tooth is the opposite of the advice for an adult tooth, so it is worth remembering before a panicked moment arrives.

Even so, bring your child in for evaluation so we can confirm no other teeth were damaged and the permanent tooth is developing normally. We will also check that nothing was left behind in the socket and look over the lips, gums, and tongue, since traumatic injuries to a child's mouth so often involve the soft tissue as well.

Bring the tooth along if you have it. Seeing it helps us confirm the whole tooth came away cleanly, and it takes only a moment to check. Do call rather than waiting to see how things look tomorrow, because the follow-up on a child's injury is about the permanent tooth underneath as much as the one that came out.

Depending on the type and severity of the injury, a flexible splint usually stays on for 2 to 4 weeks. The splint is a thin material bonded to the injured tooth and the healthy teeth on either side of it, so its neighbors hold it steady while the tissue around the root reattaches.

It is deliberately flexible rather than rigid, because a small amount of natural movement supports better healing. Most people find it far less intrusive than they expect. You can brush around it gently, and we will ask you to favor softer foods and chew on the other side while it is in place.

Dr. Andre Amarante will monitor healing and remove the splint once the tooth has stabilized. Taking it off is quick and comfortable, and that visit is usually when we also check how the tooth is responding after the injury.

Often, yes, especially in a tooth with a fully formed root. Dislodging or knocking out a tooth can disrupt the blood supply to the pulp (nerve), so root canal therapy is frequently needed within days to weeks of the injury to prevent infection and save the tooth. Once that blood supply is cut off, the pulp can die even while the tooth looks perfectly normal from the outside.

This surprises people, because by then the tooth is usually back in position and feeling settled. When it is needed, the treatment is not a sign that something went wrong. It is the step that keeps a repositioned or reimplanted tooth healthy for the long haul.

Not every injured tooth needs one right away. A tooth that was loosened but not displaced sometimes firms up on its own, and in younger patients whose tooth roots are still developing, the pulp can sometimes heal itself without treatment. Dr. Andre Amarante will monitor the tooth with follow-up exams and imaging and recommend the right timing for treatment if it becomes necessary.

Cracked teeth run from minor surface cracks to deep fractures that reach the root, and treatment scales with the severity, from a simple filling or crown to root canal therapy. A small chip may need nothing more than bonding, while a fracture that reaches the nerve usually calls for root canal therapy before a crown goes on top.

What makes cracks tricky after an accident is that they can be painless at first and nearly invisible. A tooth that took a knock but feels fine can still be fractured, so it is worth having it looked at rather than waiting for pain to show up and tell you. Bring any fragments you find, since they help us piece together exactly what happened.

See our cracked teeth page for more details on types of cracks and how they're treated.

For sports, a custom-fitted mouthguard is the single best protection against dental injuries. Over-the-counter guards offer some protection, but a custom guard from our office fits better, stays in place, and provides superior cushioning, which matters most in the split second a hit actually lands.

We recommend mouthguards for all contact and collision sports, and it is worth thinking past football and hockey. Dental injuries happen in basketball, soccer, skateboarding, and on trampolines just as readily as they do on a field, usually from an elbow or a bad landing rather than a tackle.

Raise it at your child's next checkup at our Evanston, IL office and we can take an impression while you are already in the chair. Growing mouths change shape, so we will keep an eye on the fit as new teeth come in and let you know when a replacement makes sense.

Treating traumatic injuries can mean anything from repositioning and splinting a loosened tooth to reimplantation followed by root canal therapy and a crown, and those are very different pieces of work. Until Dr. Andre Amarante has examined the mouth and taken digital X-rays, we will not know which one you are looking at.

What we can promise is that you will know the plan and the cost before treatment begins. We review both with you first.

We treat patients with and without insurance. If you are insured, we will estimate your share and file the claim for you. If you are not, or the treatment runs beyond what you planned for, our financing options include payment plans and an in-house savings plan. Call us and we will work it out together rather than let cost be the reason a dental injury goes untreated.