Traumatic injuries to the teeth and mouth may not seem very serious, but teeth have the lowest potential of any tissue for returning to a normal, healthy state after injury. These types of injuries occur for a variety of reasons. Most injuries sustained by infants or toddlers are caused by falls. School-age children get mouth injuries from bicycle and playground accidents. Teenagers get injuries from athletic activities and young adults from car accidents. The common theme between all the age groups is that most of the time traumatic oral injuries are accidental. For this reason it is important to have a basic understanding of these injuries and to know what to do if they occur.

Teeth and soft tissues can sustain a variety of injuries. Teeth injuries can involve the enamel, dentin, and/or pulp. Soft tissue injuries can affect the gum tissue, tongue, and cheeks. Even if it appears the injury only damaged one tooth, other teeth can be affected, along with the jaw. Swelling and inability to open the mouth are signs of a traumatic oral injury. The most important thing to do if your child has an oral injury is to call our office. Our doctors can be reached on a 24-hour basis. It is extremely important to have the oral injury evaluated as soon as possible to determine the extent of the injury and what care would be appropriate to treat it.  

   It is to your advantage to familiarize yourself with your insurance benefits. Our business office works hard to help educate our parents on their individual policies for their children. We manually enter as much of your dental information as we can get from your carrier.  It is best, as the subscriber, to contact your insurance carrier directly or your employer's human resource department and ask them for a dental benefit summary.  The beginning of July marks the 2nd half of the calendar year - some dental plans have frequency limitation on fluoride treatment, it may only be covered once per year.  Our doctors follow the recommended standards of care of the ADA and AAPD, calling for a fluoride treatment twice per year.  This is to provide optimal dental care for your child, the cost of a fluoride treatment is $36 or less (depending on the contracted rate for your carrier).  Strengthing the teeth to prevent cavities is much less costly, and more beneficial for your child, than having fillings or crowns done after decay has already occurred.

 

We try our best to prevent billing "surprises", but it is always good to be pro-active when it comes to your insurance benefits. If you ever have a question or concern about your statement or a treatment plan, please do not hesitate to contact the business office at (847) 726-0300.