Question

A 16-year-old women's lacrosse player is struck in the mouth with a ball. Several of her front teeth are knocked out of the socket. An emergent dentist appointment is made. What additional steps in initial management are recommended?

A. Rinse the teeth in saline and place them in ice
B. Scrub the roots with saline and reimplant them back in the sockets
C. Rinse the teeth in saline and place them in milk
D. Scrub the teeth with a brush and place them on ice
E. Scrub the teeth with a brush and place them in milk

Answer 1

Rinse the knocked-out teeth gently in saline without scrubbing and place them in milk. This preserves the vital periodontal ligament cells and increases the chance of tooth reimplantation success.

Step-by-step explanation:

The recommended steps in initial management after a lacrosse player's front teeth are knocked out include rinsing the teeth in saline and placing them in a preservative medium, such as milk. Option C is the correct answer. Scrubbing the teeth or placing them on ice can damage the periodontal ligament cells critical for tooth survival and reimplantation success.

Instead, it's critical to handle the knocked-out teeth with care, touching only the crown and not the root, gently rinsing off any debris with saline, and placing them in a container with milk, which maintains the correct osmotic balance for the cells, until the dental professional can address the injury. This action can increase the chances of successfully reinserting the teeth into the sockets.