Dental Injury Due To Car / Auto Accident
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Dental Injuries From Car Accidents — and Beyond
A car accident is one of the most common ways people get a serious dental injury. Hitting the steering wheel, dashboard, airbag, or side window can chip, crack, loosen, or knock out teeth. It can also injure the lips, gums, tongue, and jaw. But the same injuries happen just as often from a fall, a sports collision, a bike accident, or a blow to the face. A tooth doesn’t respond any differently no matter the cause. What matters most afterward is how fast you get treatment.
The Range of Dental Injuries
Depending on the force and angle of impact, a dental injury can include:
- A chipped or fractured tooth
- A loosened or displaced (luxated) tooth
- A tooth knocked out entirely (avulsed)
- Cuts to the lips, gums, or tongue
- A fractured or dislocated jaw, in more severe impacts
For the exact first-aid steps for each type — including how to handle a knocked-out tooth — see our guide to tooth trauma. In short: control any bleeding with clean gauze. Save broken pieces or a knocked-out tooth in milk. Treat any life-threatening injuries first, then get to a dentist as soon as possible.
Protecting Your Teeth Before an Injury Happens
A seatbelt lowers how severe a facial or dental injury is in a crash. But it doesn’t remove the risk, since your face is close to the steering wheel and airbag. For sports, a properly fitted mouthguard is one of the best ways to prevent a dental injury in the first place. The American Dental Association recommends one for any contact or collision sport, and even for non-contact activities like gymnastics and skating where falls are common. A custom mouthguard from your dentist fits better and protects more reliably than a boil-and-bite version from the drugstore.
Source: MouthHealthy.org (American Dental Association), Mouthguards
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What Happens If I Lose a Tooth in a Car Accident?
A car accident is a traumatic event. It can cause injuries that are visible and some that aren’t. If you’re bleeding from your mouth, it may mean you’ve cut your gums or even had teeth knocked out. You may have fractured, cracked, or chipped a tooth. You may also feel jaw pain after the accident. Common injuries include:
- Dislodged tooth — this is when a tooth shifts or moves in your mouth but stays in place. In some ways it’s more complicated than a knocked-out tooth. It needs to be repaired over time, sometimes with braces. If the tooth structure was damaged too much, it may have to come out or need a root canal.
- Chipped tooth — this may or may not be visibly damaged. The pain you feel depends on how much of the tooth you lost. If the chip goes deeper than the enamel, you may feel sensitivity to temperature.
- Broken tooth — a more severe break than a chip. If you can find the broken piece, bring it with you. If not, the best treatment may be a dental crown to protect what’s left of the tooth.
- Fractured tooth — this can be invisible even on an X-ray if it goes below the gum line. It can cause a deep throbbing pain. Your dentist may need to do a root canal to save it.
- Damage to the pulp — this exposes the nerve and blood vessels at the center of the tooth. It causes intense pain almost right away and needs emergency dental care to have any chance of saving the tooth.
- A knocked-out tooth — this doesn’t always mean it can’t be saved. See our tooth trauma guide for exactly how to handle it in the first critical minutes.
How Do I Recover From a Dental Injury?
Traumatic dental injuries can leave gaps in your smile, change your bite, affect how you speak, and hurt your confidence.
Acting fast gives an injured tooth the best chance of being saved. Your emergency dentist’s first goal is always to save your natural teeth. But at CitiDental of Woodhaven, we also care about how your smile looks. If a tooth can’t be saved, you can get a replacement that keeps your smile and gives you back full function.
How Can I Prevent a Dental Injury?
Behind the wheel, always wear your seatbelt. It won’t prevent every dental injury, but it lowers the odds of severe facial trauma in a crash. For sports, a custom or boil-and-bite mouthguard is the single best piece of equipment for preventing chipped, cracked, or knocked-out teeth. It’s worth using even for non-contact activities like biking or skating, where falls are common.
Tooth Trauma vs. Dental Injury — What’s the Difference?
This page covers the full range of causes, prevention, and general recovery from a dental injury. If an injury just happened and you need the exact first-aid steps — especially for a knocked-out tooth, where every minute counts — go straight to our tooth trauma page. Or call emergency dental right away at 718-865-8111.
718-865-8111