Aspiring Dentist Saves Christmas!

News Flash!

 A soon to be dentist, Hermey (aka Herbie), an elf employed by Santa Claus at the North Pole, has saved Christmas. Evidently Santa’s trip was under threat of cancellation due to inclement weather. Santa was able to make the trip with the assistance of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The little known behind the scenes efforts of Hermey made it possible for Rudolph to be available for the trip. The abominable snowman (Bumble) had evidently captured Rudolph and friends. With Rudolph unconscious, Hermey organized a rescue mission with Yukon Cornelius. Upon discovery of the bumble’s real problem, (bad teeth), Hermey with his dental skills, rendered the Bumble a gentle giant. Anesthesia services were provided by Yukon by droping a big rock on the Bumble's head. Rudolph returned unharmed to help guide Santa’s Sleigh! Once again showing the triumph of Dentistry.

Crown Lengthening Procedure with Modified Distal Wedge Operation

According to ROBINSON (1966), the periodontal pockets adjacent to distal root surfaces of the second and third molars are aspects of the periodontal therapy of difficult solution and they have been denied frequently for many periodontists. The periodontal pocket on the distal surface of molars can be extremely deep due to the anatomy of this area. When the pocket becomes deeper, that depth is larger than in other areas and the inaccessibility of the area leads to the inability in the mechanical control of bacterial plaque executed by the patient. Regarding to these aspects, he developed the Distal Wedge procedure in order to treat periodontal pockets adjacent to the distal surfaces of the molars. This technique uses internal bevel incisions and it has as objectives: to obtain access to the bone tissue, to preserve attached gingiva, to eliminate periodontal pockets, to reduce the healing period and to minimize the postoperative pain (Robinson RE The distal wedge. Periodontics 1966; 4:256-264).

When to Call the Dentist, When to Go to the Emergency Room

Your child just fell riding his bicycle. There is lots of blood. His mouth is a mess. Who do you call? What do you do? Children will find a way to injure themselves despite our best preventive measures as parents. Some orofacial injuries are serious and some are nothing to worry about. How do you tell? Well, here are some guidelines.

If there is lots of blood, don't panic. Any injury to the mouth bleeds a lot. Check out the situation; hold a cloth (if you can) with pressure to slow the bleeding. Most bleeding stops within 10 -15 minutes whether you do anything or not. Once your heart stops racing so much and the child is not in such a state, look and see what the problem is. First look and see if there are facial cuts or lacerations, fear of a broken jaw, possible head trauma causing loss of consciousness (concussion), multiple knocked out and displaced teeth (an oral surgeon may need to see you at the hospital), or if you just are not too sure, then you need to go to the ER. They can stitch up any facial lacerations and take major X-Rays to check all that other stuff.

Now, if you don't have those bad things, you still might have a scary mess to deal with. If you go to the ER, you are likely to sit there for two hours and then they will call your dentist anyway. You can call your dentist first and he may be able to save you the trip to the ER.

*If a young child has hit his mouth, there is lots of blood especially on his upper teeth lip area, look and see if it might just be a torn maxillary frenum. That's the little piece of tissue that connects the upper lip to the gum between the two front teeth. If it was tight and gets hit and stretched too much it will tear. It bleeds a lot at first, but will likely be fine after 20 minutes or so. Usually no stitches are necessary. In fact there may be no treatment needed at all. This is a very common injury in preschoolers.

If there is a broken tooth, the ER is not likely to be able to do much. If a tooth is knocked out, and if it is a permanent tooth, you need to get the tooth back in soon as possible, your dentist can help. The ER can put a knocked out tooth back in too, but you still may need a dentist to splint the tooth, so you may want to call the dentist first. If the knocked out tooth is a baby tooth, just leave it out and put it under their pillow. A baby tooth can be intruded (pushed up into the gums) where is is difficult to see. Sometimes it can re-erupt on it's own, but still may need to be removed or need other longer term treatments. If your child is in braces and a wire breaks, etc., call your pediatric dentist or orthodontist.