Ask The Experts! What should I do if my child knocks a tooth out? •First of all it is important to assess whether it is an adult or baby tooth that has been knocked out. •If an adult tooth is knocked out of your child’s mouth, the best first aid is to find the tooth and put it back into the socket. •If it is dirty, gently rinse for 10 seconds in cold running water. •Try not to touch the tooth root and definitely don’t scrub or clean it with soap. •Once it is back in the socket hold it in place. If needed an emergency splint can be made out of aluminum foil and gently placed over the replaced tooth and adjacent teeth. •If the tooth won’t go back in for any reason, it’s important to keep the root from drying out. Place it in a clean container with cold milk or saliva or gently wrap the tooth in plastic wrap. Don’t store the tooth in water as this can cause damage. •Once that’s done, try to get to your dentist, specialist paediatric dentist or hospital emergency department as soon as possible for a thorough assessment and stabilization of the tooth. •The faster the tooth gets back into the socket the better the chances of saving it. •If you are certain it is a baby tooth, find it if possible, but do NOT put it back in the socket. There are developing adult teeth in the gums and putting the baby tooth back can damage these teeth.
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•If unsure whether it is a baby tooth or not, place it in milk and seek attention immediately •Go to your dentist or emergency department and take the tooth with you so that they can confirm that the whole tooth has been knocked out. Dr Daniel Cocker Specialist Paediatric Dentist Lucas Dental Care Paediatric Dental Specialists 134 Tanti Ave Mornington
My son is in grade 5 and there are two other children in his class with braces. Is this too early to place braces on the teeth? As orthodontists, we see patients across a wide age spectrum, and this includes children from 7-8 years of age. The Australian Society of Orthodontists recommends children between the ages of 8 and 10 years of age visit a specialist orthodontist for assessment. This will allow the orthodontist to undertake a comprehensive assessment of your child’s dental development and determine whether or not early treatment is necessary. There are several orthodontic issues that can be treated at 8-9 years of age to provide a real benefit to the child, while the treatment of other issues can certainly be delayed until most of the adult teeth have appeared in the mouth. In general, the goals of ‘early’ orthodontic treatment are to reduce the potential for trauma to the teeth or gums, to effect a change that cannot be produced in the teenage years or to attempt to avoid certain dental or orthodontic problems from occurring. Sectional braces placed on only several of the teeth, fixed expansion appliances
or removable ‘plates’ are often used to treat early orthodontic issues. The other benefit of early orthodontic assessment is that the orthodontist can determine whether all the adult teeth are developing normally and also whether they are in the correct positon. There are often things that can be done before all the adult teeth come through to avoid adult teeth from becoming impacted or coming through in the wrong position. Early orthodontic treatment can be an effective preventive measure to lay the foundation for a healthy mouth in adulthood. DR Andrew Pepicelli BDSc, MDSc, Grad Dip Clin Dent, MOrth RCS (Ed) Peninsula Othadontics 134 Tanti Ave Mornington
My three year old son has a very bad cold with runny nose, cough and sore throat. Why won’t his GP give him antibiotics? Antibiotics are medicines that are used to treat infections or diseases caused by bacteria. They work by destroying the vital processes in bacteria, which either kills them or stops them multiplying. Antibiotics have saved millions of lives worldwide since they were first introduced however because of unnecessary overuse many of them are no longer effective and this is why it is so important for your doctor to only prescribe antibiotics in cases where a bacterial infection has been confirmed or suspected. It is difficult for any parent to watch their child go through an illness but we must remember that the vast majority of coughs and colds, ear infections, and sore throats are caused by viruses.