Commonplace facial injuries
Each year, millions of Americans find themselves with a dental emergency on their hands. Facial trauma is incredibly common, one of the most common reasons people seek out medical assistance from emergency rooms and emergency medical clinics. In fact, 5 million teeth are knocked out every year (on average) in the US alone!
It’s important to understand what to do should you suffer from some of the more commonplace facial injuries, giving yourself every opportunity to save your smile with the help of professionals like ours at Novato Oral Surgery.
COMMON FACIAL TRAUMA INJURIES
Missing Teeth
As we highlighted above, 5 million teeth are going to be knocked loose – or completely out – each and every year in the United States. Many of these injuries are a result of automobile and sports-related accidents, but there are all kinds of injuries that can result in missing teeth.
If your tooth is knocked out it’s important to pick it up (without touching the root of your tooth), tucking it away in your mouth to keep it moist, and then getting help from dental professionals like ours at Novato Oral Surgery to fix your smile ASAP.
Broken Jaws
A broken jaw is one of the top 10 most commonly broken bones in the human body, almost always a bone that breaks as a direct result of serious physical trauma. While most broken jaws are relatively minor (just because of the strength of this bone) there are varying degrees of severity – each of which causes pain and can totally change the way your smile looks and the way your bite functions.
It’s important to have your jaw fixed properly if it is broken or fractured. Leaving it to heal on its own can result in a misaligned bite and other painful complications that can plague you for the rest of your life.
Get Facial Trauma Help ASAP
Regardless of the facial trauma that you are dealing with it’s important that you seek out medical and dental attention as quickly as possible. When you’re dealing with these kinds of injuries every moment counts.
In most circumstances, a visit to your local emergency room is going to be 100% warranted. This is particularly true if you’re dealing with others (especially potentially life-threatening) injuries. If your issue is solely limited to your mouth, your teeth, and your jaw you’ll want to seek out help from oral and maxillofacial experts our team at Novato Oral Surgery.
Contact us today for more details!
FAQ
Can knocked out teeth be saved?
Absolutely!
It’s important that you gently clean a missing tooth under cold running water, that you avoid touching the root of your tooth, and that you tuck it away in between your gums and your cheek to better protect that tooth before it can be reinserted, though.
Will a broken jaw need to be wired shut?
There are varying degrees of severity when it comes to fractured and broken jaw injuries, and you’ll be happy to know that the overwhelming majority of these kinds of injuries will not necessitate your job being completely wired shut (though there is a possibility this has to happen if your injury is very severe).
