Facial trauma and dental injuries

Dr. Chad Curtis treats dental and facial injuries that fall within oral and maxillofacial surgery: teeth that are broken, loosened, or avulsed, and fractures of the jaws and related facial bones. Some of that care is in the office. Some of it belongs in an operating room.

Dr. Curtis has hospital privileges at Good Samaritan Medical Center for injuries that need the hospital. The office will tell you which setting fits.

What to do right away

• Knocked-out adult tooth: hold it by the crown, not the root. If it is dirty, rinse it briefly with milk or saline. If you can put it back in the socket, do that and bite gently on gauze. If you cannot, keep it in milk or in your cheek and come in. Time matters.
• Broken tooth: save the piece if you have it, rinse your mouth gently, and call. A cold compress on the face helps swelling.
• Loose tooth that is still in place: do not wiggle it. Bite on gauze if it is bleeding and come in.
• Suspected jaw fracture: do not force the teeth together if the bite feels wrong. A soft cloth to support the jaw is enough until you are seen. Go to the emergency department if the airway is a concern.

• A tooth was knocked out, fractured, or pushed out of position
• The bite no longer fits after a fall, a sports injury, or a blow to the face
• The lip or chin is cut and a tooth may be inside the wound
• An emergency department asked for an oral surgeon to see a facial fracture

Cuts that need a plastic surgeon, eye injuries, and head injuries are not managed as dental problems. You will be directed to the right service.

The first look is an exam, films when they can be taken safely, and a decision: repair in the office, splint a tooth, remove a tooth that cannot be saved, or arrange hospital care.

A loosened tooth may be splinted to the neighbors for a period of weeks. A fractured jaw may need plates and screws in the operating room, with a soft diet afterward. Sedation or anesthesia matches the injury and your health, not a default.

Your dentist is part of the later plan when a crown, a root canal, or an implant will replace what the injury took.

The first days

• Day of treatment: swelling and limited opening are expected. Use the gauze, diet, and medicine instructions you leave with.
• Days 1–3: swelling from a fracture or a laceration often peaks around day three. Ice the first day only, unless you were told something different.
• First week: soft food. Do not test a splinted tooth. Keep cuts clean the way you were shown.

The next weeks

A dental splint is often in place for a few weeks and then removed in the office. Jaw fracture healing is longer. Chewing stays soft until the bone can take it, which Dr. Curtis confirms rather than guessing from a calendar. Numbness of the lip can follow a lower jaw fracture and is discussed at the visit.

Call us if

• Bleeding will not slow, or you have trouble breathing or swallowing
• The bite changes again after you were set
• A splint breaks or a tooth that was stable becomes very loose
• Pain, swelling, or fever is worse after day three
• You have double vision, a change in vision, or fluid from the nose after a midface injury — go to the emergency department if you cannot reach the office

Trauma care is billed for the injury that is treated: a splint, an extraction, a repair, imaging, anesthesia, and hospital care when the operating room is required. An estimate for a planned repair can be given once the injury is understood. A same-day emergency is not a published price list.

What changes the fee is the work itself: whether grafting is needed, which anesthesia is used, the type of restoration your dentist will make, and whether new imaging is required. Dr. Curtis gives an estimate at the consultation, after the exam. This website does not list prices.

The office takes most PPO dental plans. The current in-network list is on patient info. Call (561) 833-6880 if you want to ask about a plan before you come in.