Dental trauma and injury can occur in many ways and affect each patient differnetly. Stuides have shown there is a higher percentage of males above the age of 14 that obstain dental trauma. The injury usually occours to a single anterior tooth, although there are cases in which multiple teeth are affected as well. The biggest cause of dental trauma is automobile accidents followed by sports, falls, acts of violence and other freak accidents.
There are seven main dental injuries that can occour:
Chip: A minor injury occouring to the enamel layer.
Subluxation: Displacement and slight mobility of a tooth.
Intrusion: A tooth that is impacted and pushed up into the socket and bone.
Avulsion: A tooth that is completely knocked out of its socket.
Extrusion: A tooth that is only partially removed out of its socket.
Fracture: A crack in the enamel or tissue of a tooth.
Cervical Fracture: Occuring in the anterior teeth due to jaw trama or clenching.
First Aid
Any dental injury should be looked at by a medical professional with in the first hour of the injury occuring. For more serious accidenets this could be the difference between saving a tooth or losing it completly. Each type of injury has a seperate first aid protocal to ready the tooth and ease pain while in route to the doctor.