Handbook of an Oral Surgeon

  At the weekend in Century Square, a cool breeze was blowing, and a group of hobby skaters were practicing in the square, stepping on four or five wheels and flying around like swallows on the concrete. Out of professional habit, I can’t help but worry about their safety. Suddenly I heard a scream, a boy fell down, full of blood, I rushed up to take a look and found that one of his incisors had fallen out, his father was about to wrap up the lost tooth with a paper towel, I hurriedly stopped him, let the bystander find a bottle of milk to put the tooth in, and told him to avoid dry preservation after the tooth fell out.  In recent years, the incidence of dental trauma in children has been on the rise year by year as children’s sports move in a diversified and stimulating direction. However, most parents know little about how to save the affected tooth after dental trauma, and often take improper treatment measures or miss the best treatment time, affecting the dental prognosis. It is important to prevent and treat traumatic dental injuries in children because of their impact on the growth and development of their teeth and bite.  Prevention of dental trauma can be achieved with the use of a dental motion protector. A dental sports protector is a protective device made of non-toxic and odorless elastic plastic material that can be used when participating in sports or games to protect teeth, oral soft tissues and TMJ from trauma. The use of dental sports protectors is quite common in developed countries.  In the unfortunate event of a dental trauma, parents should not panic. There are three types of dental trauma: tooth fracture, tooth displacement, and tooth loss. If a tooth is broken, parents should first determine how many pieces are broken, retrieve the broken pieces, place them in plain milk or saline, and then send the child to the hospital as soon as possible for treatment. If a tooth is lost, retrieve the lost tooth immediately, never touch the root while holding the tooth, then place the tooth back in the child’s mouth or store it in fresh milk and take it to the hospital quickly. Never dry the tooth and preserve the soft tissue on the root surface to the maximum extent possible, as this soft tissue is the periodontal membrane and is essential for the future reattachment of the tooth after this tooth is reimplanted. The shorter the time to leave the tooth after tooth loss, the higher the success rate after reimplantation. Generally, it can be up to 90% or more within half an hour.