When a child is injured, the parent(s) needs to assess the extent of the injury. If the injury is extensive, or if the child is having difficulty breathing, bleeding profusely or loses consciousness, call 911 or take the child to the emergency room ASAP. If the injury is limited to the mouth/teeth, call your dentist right away. Injury to the mouth can result in bruising and cutting of the lip and/or gum and scratches on and around the face. If a tooth is affected by the injury, it can result in fracturing, loosening, displacing, or complete avulsion of that tooth.

The main difference between management of an avulsed baby tooth and an avulsed adult tooth is we never re-implant a baby tooth if it gets knock out. On the other hand, if an adult tooth gets knock out, bring the tooth and the child to the dentist ASAP so that the tooth can be reimplanted and saved. The success rate of reimplanting a knock out adult tooth critically depends on how quickly the tooth can be placed back in its socket (ideally within 30 to 45 minutes). If the tooth is clean and the parent can put the tooth back in, do it right away, and go see the dentist. If the parent is unable to replace the tooth in its socket, place the tooth in milk and bring it with the child to the dental office immediately.