Dental trauma UK: saving injured teeth

From Volume 41, Issue 10, December 2014 | Page 932

Authors

Miss Serpil Djemal

Chair, Dental Trauma UK Consultant in Restorative Dentistry King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Articles by Miss Serpil Djemal

Article

I am writing to let your readers know about an exciting new charity – Dental Trauma UK – (www.dentaltrauma.co.uk) which was launched at the House of Lords on 7 November 2014.

Unfortunately, many people in the UK have their teeth knocked out – and many more suffer various fractures and displacement injuries. Sadly, these problems often occur as a result of unfortunate everyday accidents that can happen to anyone and are all too often regarded as trivial, even amusing, but are actually a cause of major distress and pain for these patients.

The care provided to these patients, sadly, is often less than optimal. A survey at King's College Hospital, where I work, revealed that, after suffering some dental trauma, 25% of victims claimed that they were unable to function (eat, drink, open and close mouth normally), while 50% were disabled by pain, stress and feelings of self-consciousness. This trend is probably reflected throughout the UK.

Over the past five years, over 1,300 adult patients have been seen and managed at King's. A recurring theme from the patients we have spoken to is that, immediately after the accident, they did not know what to do, or who to speak to about the damage they had suffered, or where or who to turn to for immediate help.

To address this problem, colleagues and I from around the UK have recently set up Dental Trauma UK (www.dentaltrauma.co.uk).

Our aims are simple and straightforward. We wish to educate the public about what they can do in the event of dental trauma occurring. Specifically, if people lose a tooth, we want them to put it back into position immediately. Whilst this is not new news to many of your well educated readers, it is worrying that the public do not seem to know this simple first aid for saving teeth:

PICK IT up by the crown

LICK IT if there is obvious dirt present

or put it in milk

STICK IT back in as quickly as possible

and see a dentist as an emergency.

Through education and awareness campaigns, we will also be reaching out to those professions – such as teachers, especially PE teachers, youth workers, paramedics, police, and sports coaches – who are often first on the scene in the immediate aftermath of a dental injury occurring.

One recent case highlights the problem. Many thousands of people witnessed Arsenal's Mikel Arteta have a tooth knocked out on the football pitch earlier this year and, to our dismay, no attempt was made to find the tooth and replant it. Unfortunately, he tried to locate the tooth after the match but to no avail. We would like to see this sort of dental trauma acted upon as a priority to save teeth of all patients.

We are really excited about getting started and would like to encourage all your readers to get involved and visit our new website at www.dentaltrauma.co.uk.

Thank you for your support.