Tooth Loss
Tigard, OR
 When your teeth are injured in a sports or other accident, that is often called dental trauma. There are several types of traumatic dental injuries that can occur for your mouth, and while most of them are minor, some of them can cause a lot of change in your mouth's overall structure and health, even tooth loss. No matter what type of dental trauma you face, you will need to see one of our Lincoln Center Smiles dentists to receive care and get your tooth repaired, and back in its socket if possible. Dental trauma might not sound as severe as tooth extractions or tooth decay, but it should not be underestimated or overlooked. Your teeth need to be protected at all times to ensure continued overall health and oral health.
Causes of Dental Trauma
The most common cause of dental trauma are impacts to the mouth. This is most often caused by sports injuries. High impact sports like football and hockey often have players receiving blows to the head and face or feature the body being jolted around. Other causes of dental trauma can be caused by slips and falls on your mouth or another accident. Regardless of how the trauma happened, there is always one constant - an injury to the mouth that damaged one or more of your teeth.
Types of Dental Trauma Damage
The most common type of damage is a chipped tooth. This is where a part of your tooth has fallen off or been broken, but the tooth is largely still intact and in its socket. More severe dental trauma can happen when your tooth is either fractured or knocked out of your mouth. The latter types of dental trauma are rare but are still dangerous for your mouth's health. If your tooth gets damaged or knocked out by dental trauma, the most important thing to do is attempt to collect as much of your tooth as possible. This is easy if your tooth is knocked out, but if it is chipped or fractured you should collect as many pieces of your tooth as you can find. Our dentists can save your tooth and perform a full repair, but only if you act fast.
How is Dental Trauma Treated?
If your tooth fracture not only damages the surface of your tooth, but also the pulp that is underneath the dental crown it will need to be treated immediately. We typically try to perform a root canal and also split the loose tooth and connect it to the other teeth in your mouth to increase healing. For a chipped tooth, we typically place a crown or filling on the damaged part of the tooth and allow it to heal naturally. This will help to make sure that the tooth does not have to be extracted if infected. If your tooth cannot be saved, we will encourage you to fill the missing space(s) with a dental bridge, dentures, or dental implants. Dental trauma is not something you should take lightly, as it can cause tooth loss and more damage to your mouth if left untreated. If you are suffering from dental trauma, please come see our dentists at Lincoln Center Smiles and call (503) 598-0898 so we can help you. |
