Children and Dental Accidents

A big focus of our practice is helping children to enjoy good dental health. We help kids and their parents to do everything they can to prevent dental disease.

But accidents happen, and sometimes, teeth are involved. Whilst there are ways to prevent injury during sporting games and training, the fact is that many injuries to teeth occur away from organised sporting events.

Many injuries occur at home or in the neighbourhood, for example:

  • A toddler falls and hits their mouth on the corner of the table
  • A teen comes home with a chipped tooth after collecting a cricket ball in their mouth during an impromptu game with the neighbourhood kids.

This sort of occurrence might lead some parents to wonder whether they should make their kids wear mouthguards (and bike helmets) all the time.

Where Else Do Dental Injuries Occur?

Injuries to teeth can occur anywhere: in the home, school, dance class, and at other community locations.

Some potential injuries that can occur when teeth and mouths are injured include:

  • Avulsions (the tooth gets knocked out completely)
  • Dislodgement or luxation (the tooth is pushed out of alignment)
  • Broken or chipped teeth and
  • Lip and gum lacerations

Both baby and adult teeth can be affected by such injuries.

Worse-case scenarios include 

  • Broken jaws
  • Damage to the jaw joint 
  • Concussion

Knowing Dental First Aid Is Critical

It’s very important to know how to manage a dental injury when it occurs. In some cases, the survival of the tooth depends on this knowledge and a fast response time. 

Be sure to check out our extensive information about Dental First Aid and download our printable Dental First Aid Guides:

A Word About Insurance and Dental Injuries

Parents are usually surprised to learn that the fees paid to their child’s sporting or leisure club, school, or community event often do not cover the costs of treating injuries to the teeth and mouth should they occur at the location. Dental injuries can be very expensive to treat, so lack of coverage can be a shock.

This situation makes dental injury prevention even more important. Please consider having your child fitted for a sports mouthguard and ask them to wear it even when other children do not.

If you are able to influence the type of insurance purchased by your community organisation, consider asking for one that will provide coverage for dental injuries.