When you are involved in contact sports, you put your teeth at a greater risk than most other people. The sport you are involved in increases your chances of chipping your teeth and possibly having one or more of them completely knocked out. If you happen to have your tooth knocked out, you want to follow the proper procedure so you can increase the likeliness of being able to save the tooth. You also want to get to the dentist immediately.

Clean the tooth

The first thing you want to do is pick the tooth up the right way, without touching the root of the tooth. If you touch the root you can injure it and make it impossible to save the tooth. You want to clean the tooth and root off. To do this in the safest manner, you want to clean it off in your own mouth, with your spit. Swish it around without knocking the root against your other teeth.

If you must, you can also wash the tooth by using water or even milk, but you never want to use soap or other chemicals to clean the tooth, including isopropyl alcohol or peroxide. Using soap or chemicals to clean the tooth will ruin your chances of saving it.

Put the tooth in place

The sooner you are able to get that tooth back into the socket, the better off you will be. You want to put the tooth in place, right above the socket. Then, carefully push the tooth down, into the socket. Once you have it in place, bite down to hold the tooth in place.

If you are unable to put the tooth back in the socket, then you need to keep it moist. You can do this in a safer manner by tucking it between your gum and your cheek until you get to the dentist. You can also place it in a cup of milk.

 If the tooth can't be saved

Sometimes, a tooth is not able to be saved, even if you have done everything correctly. If the dentist isn't able to save your tooth, they will offer you options, one of which will be to get a dental implant. A dental implant is a permanent replacement for a missing tooth in which the replacement tooth is implanted into your jaw. The implanted tooth will look and feel just like your natural tooth. This is a good option if the dentist is unable to save your tooth. Talk to a professional like Nashville Periodontal Group for more information.

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