Common Dental Injuries from Car Accidents

Car accidents can result in a wide array of damages, including serious dental injuries. Such injuries can require extensive and long term treatment by a dentist. Such treatments are not cheap, and that underscores the importance of holding the at-fault party responsible for paying for them. If you were injured in this way by a negligent driver, contact a law firm to learn how a car accident lawyer can help you recover your damages. If appropriate, your damage claim may also include pain and suffering and the earnings you will lose while unable to work during your recovery period. 

Dental Injuries

Even “mild” car accidents can result in serious dental injuries, particularly when the vehicle occupant’s face makes forceful contact with the dashboard, steering wheel, windshield, or other hard surfaces. When other serious injuries are present, the victim may neglect focusing on their dental injuries but they are no less important. Without proper treatment, a serious dental injury may make it difficult to impossible to eat normally, be pain-free, or enjoy their previous appearance when teeth are broken or missing. If they suffered whiplash during the car accident, their head, mouth, and jaw may be injured as well. Here are additional common dental injuries associated with car accidents:

• Fractured tooth. Unless the victim is a child whose “baby” teeth were fractured in the car accident, a fractured tooth will usually require advanced dental treatment. If the tooth’s pulp layer is affected, heightened sensitivity of the tooth may develop. Cosmetic treatment may enable the person to regain their previous appearance.
• Luxation of the tooth. When the car accident victim experiences an impact to a tooth, it may loosen that tooth but not remove it. A dentist will often treat the patient by pushing the tooth into its normal position. If the tooth’s root is damaged, the dentist may have to remove the entire tooth.
• Avulsed tooth injury. This is when a tooth is shifted out of its socket after an impact. A dentist may be able to recover the tooth but it is more often substituted with a synthetic tooth.
• Tooth root fracture. This occurs when the root tip is damaged. A dentist may be able to recover the tooth but if the fracture is particularly close to the gum line, this may not be possible. However, a stabilization splint may help the tooth’s root recover from the damage it suffered.
  

Get the Compensation for Your Dental Injuries That You Deserve

If you were injured in a car accident that you did not cause, you should not have to shoulder the burden of paying for proper cosmetic dentistry in Morrisville and other damages. Some injuries are not possible to recover from completely, and this should also be addressed by the at-fault driver. A lawyer can help you get the compensation you deserve.

Thanks to Alliance Dentistry for their insight into dentistry and common dental injuries from a car accident.