4 Things You Should Have In Your Emergency Dental Kit
Even with the best oral care and regular dentist visits, accidents can happen that damage your teeth or gums. In these instances, it's a great idea to have an emergency dental kit in your home. Keeping an emergency kit can help you to control bleeding, dampen pain, and protect a wound until you can get to the dentist's office. If you don't have an emergency dental kit yet, here are four things you should make sure to build one with.
Crown Adhesive
Dental crowns are designed to be a long-term solution to protecting a damaged tooth, but sometimes they themselves become damaged. Biting into something hard or sticky can yank a crown off your tooth, leaving the tooth exposed and vulnerable. In these instances, you'll be ahead of the curve if you have dental adhesive in your kit.
Dental crown adhesive can be purchased in almost any dental care aisle and is designed to temporarily hold a crown in place. To re-adhere a crown, all you need to do is to carefully clean the crown of any debris, apply the adhesive, and press it back over your tooth. This isn't a permanent solution, but it will protect your tooth until you get to the dentist's office to have it replaced or reattached.
Floss
Floss may seem like a simple thing to have in your kit, but it's an extremely versatile tool that's easy to run out of. Whether or not you floss on a regular basis, you can run out of floss at a moment's notice and not have any when you're in dire straits. Floss can remove painful debris from under the gumline and prevent serious oral infections from occurring.
Dental Wax
Orthodontists often recommend using dental wax to help prevent chafing when their patients are wearing braces, but that's not the only use for it. If you have a painful spot in your mouth that hurts when you bite down, you can use dental wax to protect the area until you get to a dentist like Dr. Jon Douglas Lesan, DDS, RpH, PA.
Rather than applying the dental wax directly to the painful area, build a barrier around it to keep yourself from biting down on it. A small ridge of dental wax around the area will keep you from applying pressure to the wound or toothache. Like the crown adhesive, dental wax can be found in nearly any dental care aisle.
Teabags
Lastly, include a few black teabags in your dental kit. The tannins in tea can help to slow or stop blood flow from a wound, making them an invaluable item to have if you experience a mouth injury. Ideally, you should include individually wrapped black teabags to make sure that the bag is sanitary and safe to put in your mouth.
If you've never used one for this purpose before, all you need to do is dampen the bag and place it in your mouth where the wound is. Gently bite down, and the tannins will get to work helping the blood to clot.
When you're done building your kit, make sure to include the phone number of a local, reputable dentist where you can easily spot it. This will prevent you from having to search for a dentist if an emergency occurs and you need help right away.