Kids’ Dental Emergency Guide | What Richmond Hill Parents Should Do
Smiles on Yonge
August 26, 2026
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Kids’ Dental Emergency Guide | What Richmond Hill Parents Should Do
Kids’ Dental Emergencies: A Parent’s Guide to Staying Calm and Acting Fast
Every parent knows the sound. The thud from the other room, the half-second of silence, and then the cry that tells you this one is different.
Take a breath. Most dental accidents look worse than they are, because mouths bleed a lot. Here is the quick version of what to do, followed by a step-by-step guide for each situation.
The short answer: if an adult tooth gets knocked out, find it, hold it by the top (not the root), and get to a dentist within 30 minutes if you can. For everything else, you usually have time to clean up, calm your child down, and call your dental office for guidance.
Save your dental office’s number in your phone right now, before you need it. If your child is a patient at [Practice Name], our emergency line is [phone number].
A knocked-out adult tooth: the real emergency
This is the one situation where minutes matter. A permanent tooth that goes back in the socket within 30 minutes has the best chance of surviving.
- Find the tooth. Pick it up by the crown, the white part you normally see. Try not to touch the root.
- If it’s dirty, rinse it gently with milk or saline for a few seconds. No scrubbing, no soap, no wiping it on your shirt.
- If your child is old enough to cooperate, place the tooth back in the socket and have them bite gently on a clean cloth to hold it there.
- If that’s not possible, put the tooth in a small container of cold milk. Milk keeps the root cells alive. Water does not work as well.
- Call your dentist and say the words “knocked-out permanent tooth.” You will be seen fast.
One big exception: baby teeth do not go back in. Pushing a baby tooth back into the socket can damage the adult tooth growing underneath it. If a baby tooth gets knocked out, control the bleeding with gentle pressure from a clean cloth, comfort your child, and call your dentist the same day so they can check that nothing else was injured.
Not sure if it’s a baby tooth or an adult tooth? Don’t guess. Put it in milk, call the office, and let the dentist decide.
A chipped or broken tooth
Chips are the most common playground injury we see, and most of them are very fixable.
- Rinse your child’s mouth with warm water.
- If you can find the broken piece, bring it along in milk or water. Sometimes it can be bonded back on.
- Use a cold compress on the lip or cheek if there’s swelling.
- Call your dentist. Small chips can often wait a day or two. A break that exposes a pink or bleeding centre, or a tooth that suddenly hurts with hot and cold, should be seen quickly.
A tooth that got hit but looks fine still deserves a mention at your next visit. Teeth can be injured on the inside without showing it right away, and sometimes they darken weeks later.
A toothache in the middle of the night
Toothaches have a talent for showing up at 11 p.m. on a Friday. Here’s what helps until the office opens:
- Rinse with warm salt water.
- Gently floss around the sore tooth. You’d be surprised how often the villain is a stuck popcorn hull.
- Give children’s acetaminophen or ibuprofen as directed on the package for your child’s age and weight.
- A cold compress on the cheek can ease throbbing.
- Do not put aspirin or any painkiller directly on the gum. It burns the tissue and doesn’t help.
Call the dentist in the morning even if the pain fades. A toothache that comes and goes is still a toothache, and pain that disappears can mean the nerve is in trouble, not that the problem solved itself.
Go to an emergency room or call your dentist urgently if your child has facial swelling, especially near the eye or under the jaw, a fever along with tooth pain, or any trouble swallowing or breathing. Those signs can mean an infection that is spreading, and that is a medical issue, not just a dental one.
A cut lip, tongue, or cheek
Mouths are dramatic. A small cut can produce an alarming amount of blood, and then heal beautifully within days.
- Press a clean, damp cloth on the cut for a full ten minutes. Set a timer, because peeking resets the clock.
- Offer a popsicle afterward. Cold slows the bleeding and buys you major parenting points.
- If the bleeding won’t stop after ten minutes of steady pressure, or the cut is deep or goes through the lip edge, head to a walk-in clinic or emergency room.
Something stuck between the teeth
Floss is your only tool here. Slide it gently, and try tying a small knot in the floss to help sweep the object out. No tweezers, no toothpicks, no pins. If floss doesn’t work, call the office rather than digging deeper.
The best emergency plan is a boring one
Most of the emergencies above are less likely, and less severe, when three habits are in place:
- A mouthguard for sports. Hockey, soccer, basketball, skating, and bikes cause most of the dental injuries we see in Richmond Hill kids. A custom-fitted mouthguard from your dentist protects better and gets worn more, because it’s comfortable.
- Regular checkups. Most midnight toothaches are cavities that have been quietly growing for months. Catching them at a routine visit means a small filling on a calm afternoon instead of an emergency. If you’re due, learn more about pediatric dental care in Richmond Hill or call the office to book a checkup.
- Knowing your after-hours number. Ask your dental office how they handle emergencies outside office hours and save that number today.
One more prevention note for parents of kids in braces: brackets and wires come with their own small emergencies, like a poking wire or a popped bracket. We cover how to handle those, and how braces compare to aligners in the first place, in our braces vs. clear aligners guide for parents.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
For a permanent tooth, within 30 minutes is ideal. Store the tooth in cold milk and call ahead so the office is ready for you.
No. Re-implanting a baby tooth can harm the adult tooth developing underneath. Call your dentist the same day instead.
Usually not an immediate one. Small chips can wait a day or two. See a dentist quickly if the break is large, the centre of the tooth is exposed, or the tooth becomes very sensitive.
When it comes with facial swelling, fever, or trouble swallowing or breathing. Those need urgent care. Otherwise, call your dentist the next morning.
Many local practices, including [Practice Name], reserve same-day time for emergencies and have an after-hours line for patients. Call your own dental office first, since they have your child’s records.
References
Canadian Dental Association, dental emergency guidance for parents 2. International Association of Dental Traumatology, guidelines for avulsed permanent teeth 3. Canadian Paediatric Society, guidance on children’s pain relief dosing 4. Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine / CDA position on sports mouthguards
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