There are some extreme circumstances when a hard fall or a blow to the face can knock out one of your teeth. In some rare cases, the tooth comes out of the socket whole. If it’s kept alive, it might be possible for one of Ridge Park Dental’s dentists to successfully implant it back into the gums. Most of the time the tooth is so severely damaged that we need to extract the remnants in the socket to prevent pain, infection or other complications.
Once your gums have healed, there are a few different restoration options that a Ridge Park Dental dentist might recommend. One of the most common is to replace the knocked out tooth by installing a bridge. This is essentially two crowns fused together with a third representative tooth corresponding to the lost tooth. It is mounted on a pair of abutments formed by the two closest neighboring teeth.
The process starts with your dentist remove the majority of the enamel layer each tooth, creating a pair of abutments. Later these abutments will serve to anchor your bridge in place. They will then take an impression of the area, which is sent to a dental lab, where your bridge will be made.
At the end of the appointment, the dentist will secure a temporary crown over each abutment to protect them.
A member of our staff will call you to schedule a second appointment once the dental lab has completed your permanent bridge. The dentist will remove the temporary crowns and cement the permanent bridge in place.
If you have a tooth that was recently knocked out or damaged, you should call Ridge Park Dental’s office in Layton, Utah at 801-773-5285 to schedule an appointment.