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Has your child ever chipped a tooth? It can be a pitiful sight. It’s easy to panic and worry about what should happen next – but there is no reason to do so. What you do next after a child chipped tooth will determine the quality of their dental care moving forward.
It’s important to know that a kid’s chipped tooth is common but can lead to bigger issues if left untreated. This post lets you know what to do after chipping tooth and get the information needed for your child’s long-term dental health.
Table of Contents
What should I Do with a Kid with Chipped Tooth?
If your child is injured, it’s important to act quickly. Here is what to do after chipping tooth in the first 24 hours to help ensure the injury heals properly.
Stay Calm
Don’t panic! Your child may be upset when this happens, but try not to cry along with them. You want them to know they don’t have anything to worry about because they will get better soon enough. This will help both of you feel better and move forward with fixing the tooth break.
Stop the Bleeding
If there’s bleeding, apply pressure with a clean cloth such as gauze, a washcloth, a firm grabber, or a bandage. When possible, elevate the injured area above the level of the heart. If bleeding continues after applying pressure with a clean cloth, contact your doctor immediately.
Apply an Ice Pack
Apply an ice pack for 15 minutes at a time every hour while awake and every two hours while asleep until swelling stops, usually 48 hours. Don’t use heat on a kid’s chipped tooth because it may cause more swelling!
Check for Damage
Next, carefully examine the kid with chipped tooth to determine the extent to which the teeth have experienced any damage. If there are cracks or chips on the surface, contact our office as soon as possible so we can assess the situation and provide any treatment necessary.
Provide Pain Management Broken Tooth in Children
Ask the kids dentist near me if they have recommendations for over-the-counter medicines that might work well on your child. Many children are sensitive to acetaminophen, which is found in Tylenol. If not, ask about prescription options that may be more effective for your child’s needs such as ibuprofen or naproxen sodium.
Is the Tooth Fracture Considered An Emergency Dental?
No, not necessarily. However, the answer depends on the severity of the child chipped tooth, whether it’s a chipped front tooth, and how badly it hurts. If your child chips a tooth, the first thing to do is call the children dentist in Texas. Richmond, Texas residents should call Luna Pediatric Dentistry, one of the best children emergency dentistry in Richmond Texas to schedule an appointment to evaluate this child’s situation and discuss treatment options available to help restore the smile to its original beauty!
If the chip is small and not deep, there is little to be done. The pediatric dentist in Richmond may recommend that you watch for any signs of infection or symptoms of pain in the mouth. However, if the chip extends below the gum line, your child needs immediate attention from a kids dentist near me.
If your child has a large chipped front tooth, it can be difficult to keep them from smiling and showing their teeth. It’s important to keep them from chewing on anything that could damage the tooth or cause more damage or chipping. Your kids dentist near me may recommend wearing a retainer or doing other dental work on the affected tooth until it heals properly.
What Should You Do Immediately if Your Kids Chip a Tooth?
Parents ask a common question: can you fix a child’s chipped tooth? The best answer is that if your child chips a tooth, you should call a pediatric dentist in Richmond right away. If the chip is small and the tooth is not tender to the touch, it may be possible to wait until the next day to have the chip repaired. However, keep in mind that any blood or pus coming from the tooth needs immediate attention.
If there is no bleeding or pus, children emergency dentistry in Richmond Texas, may suggest having your child visit for an appointment as soon as possible to evaluate the chip. If there are concerns about whether or not the tooth will need root canal therapy or even extraction, we can make that determination at the time of evaluation.
The sooner we can evaluate your child’s situation, the better chance we have of making sure that they do not experience any further problems with this particular tooth going forward.
Tooth Fracture in Babies Vs. Children
You’ve got a pain in your baby’s mouth. But wait! Have you confused your infant with a toddler? Let’s find out more about tooth fractures in babies vs. children to better understand what you’re dealing with.
Tooth Fractures in Babies
A baby tooth fracture is when an infant’s primary (baby) tooth cracks or breaks while still in its socket. The fracture might be due to general wear and tear from sucking on the teething ring or pacifier too much. This is because a baby’s teeth are very soft and susceptible to this injury.
A tooth fracture can also occur when there’s an underlying medical condition such as anemia, rickets, vitamin C deficiency, or other nutritional deficiencies. In these cases, the baby’s teeth are likely weak and more susceptible to fracture. Infection during pregnancy can also lead to tooth fractures in newborns and infants because their primary teeth are still developing under the gums and haven’t erupted yet. In most cases, a kid with chipped tooth will heal without treatment. However, in some instances, permanent damage can result from a baby tooth fracture if it goes untreated for too long.
Tooth Fractures in Children
Tooth fractures are common in young children, especially those who are teething. This is because the enamel of baby teeth is very thin and can easily break if the tooth is knocked or clamped tightly between the upper and lower jaws. Tooth fractures are also common in children with certain medical conditions such as Down syndrome and Leukemia because they can weaken the immune system or affect blood flow to the mouth.
Children tend to be more active than adults and may have an accident while playing sports or engaging in physical activities involving contact with other people or objects. If the tooth is cracked but not chipped, the pediatric dentist in Richmond may fill it with a composite filling material rather than try to repair it with a crown or other more complicated procedure. To help prevent this type of injury, ensure your child wears a mouth guard when playing contact sports like football, ice hockey, and lacrosse.
Treatment Options for a Child Chipped Tooth
What do you do when your tooth breaks? When your child chips their tooth, it is an important time to ensure you do all you can to make them comfortable and get the best treatment. Several treatment options depend on the kid chipped front tooth and its severity.
Can you fix a child’s chipped tooth? – The Tooth Will Recover With Time
Your child’s body will heal over time if there is no permanent damage from the break. It may take several weeks before any symptoms go away completely, but as long as there are no other problems with the tooth, most children recover just fine.
Filling
For a minor kid chipped front tooth that affects nothing more than the enamel, a simple filling may be sufficient for filling in the gap in the tooth. This treatment option is often best for a small chipped front tooth. However, your dentist may recommend crowns or veneers if there is damage to the enamel.
A Dental Crown
A dental crown is a durable decorative covering for your tooth. It restores a tooth’s shape, size, and appearance. Crowns protect weak or injured teeth from further damage. A doctor may recommend dental crowns made of porcelain, porcelain fused to metal, or gold alloys that look like natural teeth. The material used depends on the treatment needed, such as restoring fractured teeth or protecting damaged gums from further injury.
A kids dental near me will take an impression of your damaged tooth before preparing a model for your new crown using special materials or sending it out for fabrication in a dental lab. This allows them to ensure the final product fits properly and looks natural when placed over your existing tooth structure.
A Dental Veneer for chipped tooth
What do you do when your tooth breaks? In some cases, the tooth damage is so severe that a crown or filling is not enough to repair it. In this case, a kids dental near me might suggest improving the tooth’s appearance with a dental veneer. A veneer is a custom-made, wafer-thin shell that covers a tooth’s front surface.
Veneers improve the appearance of kid chipped front tooth. A dentist may also use them if you have teeth that need strengthening due to grinding, if you have gaps between your teeth and want them closed up, or if there are missing teeth. The procedure can take two to several hours, depending on how extensive your kids chipped tooth is and the materials needed.
Treating a Child Chipped Permanent Tooth at Home
can you fix a child’s chipped tooth? If your child has a small chip in their tooth, you can usually treat it at home with over-the-counter pain medications and dental bonding material. Depending on how old your child is and how large the chip is, you may need to take them to see a kids dental near me before attempting treatment yourself. Sometimes, it may be possible to repair your child’s tooth at Home without any anesthesia required. If not, however, you’ll need to take your child to see their children dentist in Texas as soon as possible.
Tooth Extraction
If the chip is small and not causing any pain or discomfort, your pediatric dentist may recommend waiting until the child is older and growing their baby teeth before pulling them out. This may also apply if multiple chips are in one tooth.
Tooth Bonding for chipped tooth
The most common treatment for a child chipped permanent tooth is tooth bonding. Tooth bonding is a quick and easy way to fix minor chips, cracks, and spaces. It’s also a good option for children who have braces because it doesn’t require any drilling. The children dentist in Texas will apply a thin layer of composite resin on the child chipped permanent tooth, which hardens and matches the color of your natural teeth.
Contact Luna Pediatric Dentist in Richmond Texas
A kid’s chipped tooth may look harmless at first glance. Nevertheless, they can become serious problems very quickly if left untreated by professional children emergency dentistry in Richmond Texas dentistry. We take care of any broken tooth in children.
You will want to bring your child and the broken tooth to our office so that we can assess the situation and decide if any treatment is necessary. Our children dentist in Texas will assess the tooth and tell you whether or not the kid with chipped tooth need an x-ray or other imaging test to see better what happened to your child’s tooth. If you have any questions about handling a broken tooth in children, don’t hesitate to contact us today to make an appointment with our dentists!