Dental avulsion occurs when trauma knocks a tooth out of its socket in the jawbone. Treatment for such a tooth loss depends on whether or not the tooth is preserved at the scene and taken immediately to your general or family dentist. If the tooth isn't found, there are dental replacement options.

Reusing: Replantation

If you take the full tooth immediately to a dentist, the tooth could be saved through replantation. You need to get to a dentist as quickly as possible or the best chance of the replantation working.

The dentist will clean the tooth and the socket with an antibiotic rinse. The natural tooth is placed back into its socket and then held into place with a splint. You will need to keep making visits to the office for a number of weeks so the dentist can adjust the splint and check to make sure the tooth is starting to heal back into its proper positioning. Avoid chewing on the tooth during replantation.

If replantation isn't possible due to a complete loss of the tooth or due to a failed healing, you will need to consider your dental replacement options so you don't have an empty socket in your mouth.

Replacement: Dental Bridge

A dental bridge offers a quick way to replace the lost tooth if you have healthy teeth remaining on both sides of the empty socket. The bridge is created in a lab based on molds of your teeth so that the dentist can fashion two dental crown caps that attach to the tops of those flanking natural teeth. The caps hold the artificial tooth in place above the empty socket.

The bridge costs less than dental implants and is also removable. If you decide at a later date that you do want an implant, the dentist can loosen the bonds on the crowns, pull out the artificial tooth, and then start the implant procedure.

Replacement: Dental Implant

If you can afford a dental implant and want to go that treatment route, it is better to go with the implant immediately before your jawbone starts to degrade due to the tooth loss. An implant relies on healthy, dense bone to heal around its implanted metal root to hold the root in place. If your jawbone deteriorates, you will have to undergo a bone graft that will make an already lengthy replacement process even longer.

Once the dentist places the implant and the bone heals completely around the root, the dentist can attach a post that will hold the artificial tooth. The soft tissue around the post is allowed to heal back into place before the final artificial tooth is placed.

The procedure might seem unnecessarily long but the end result will prove natural in both look and feel. Consult a cosmetic dentistry specialist if you have any other questions.