Some of the Essentials Every Dental First Aid Kit Should Have

May 1 • 3 minute read

A mom building a dental first aid kit.

One of the things we all probably learned during the last couple years is that it’s helpful to have a few essentials around the house in case there’s an emergency. For example, in early 2020, most people came to realize they should consider adding an extra pack of toilet paper to their home preparedness kit. Our Turlock dental practice would like to recommend another addition this year we think many may be overlooking, especially as we move into nicer weather and our families start spending more time recreationally outdoors. In this post, we’d talk about a few essentials you should stock for your family’s dental emergency kit.

Dental First Aid Manual

Having a kit with dental first aid essentials is important and knowing what to do in a dental emergency is just as important. There are a wide range of dental first aid educational materials available for free to download or for purchase that will run you through most basic dental emergency scenarios you’d likely encounter. We highly recommend having some form of manual handy in your dental first aid kit so you quickly stabilize an emergency situation until you can get help.

Medical Gloves

The most common disposable medical gloves are made of latex, but vinyl gloves work too if someone in your family has a latex allergy. It’s important to have a set of these in your dental first aid kit so you can prevent illnesses and infections if you’re exposed to blood or other fluids. Make sure to try the gloves on to ensure a snug fit before you’re in an emergency and realize they’re too big or small.

OTC Acute Dental Pain Relief

You’ll want some way to manage acute dental pain during an emergency in your dental first aid kit. Pain can originate from a wide range of sources, such as a broken tooth or a filling falling out. It’s a good idea, at a minimum, to pick up an oral analgesic and some Tylenol to handle some of these scenarios.

Gauze

Some dental emergencies, including a lot of sports injuries, cause bleeding in the mouth. Having some gauze in a dental first aid kit can help if a tooth cuts someone’s tongue, or a tooth gets knocked out and pressure is needed to stop the bleeding.

A Cold Compress

Cold compresses are used to relieve pain from a toothache or to help with swelling after an injury to the mouth. To make a quick cold compress, you can use a wet washcloth wrapped around a bag of ice cubes, or you can buy specially made cold compresses for emergency situations. If you’re experiencing a toothache or swelling, apply a cold compress for about 20 minutes, then take it off for about 20 minutes and alternate.

A Pre-Packaged Dental First Aid Kit

There are a wide range of commercially available pre-packaged dental first aid kits you can buy that include everything we’ve mentioned above and more. It’s not a bad idea to have one of these laying around the house for emergencies or to take with you if you’re doing some extreme activity where emergency care may be several days away, such as backpacking.