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Incisor wobbles

introduction

When you think of wobbling front teeth, the first thought is that a child's milk teeth are affected. But the loosening of the front teeth affects not only children but also adults. At an advanced age, the permanent front teeth can begin to loosen so much that in the worst case they fall out. But what can be the causes and why can young adults also be affected by wobbling incisors?

Causes of a wobbling front tooth

There are many different causes of a wobbling front tooth. They can affect all age groups.
In children around 5-6 years of age, the primary incisors begin to wobble because the permanent teeth initiate the change of teeth. The roots of the milk teeth are broken down, which is why the milk tooth no longer has a hold in the jawbone. This will make it loose and eventually fall out so that the permanent tooth can follow suit.

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Another reason that affects all ages is violence or an accident. If the patient falls exactly on the incisors, they can break or loosen from the tooth bed, leaving them loose and mobile.
If the tooth is broken in the longitudinal axis, it must be pulled. In the event of a break in the transverse axis, it depends on how deep the tooth broke off and whether it can still be saved. The following applies: the deeper the fracture is towards the root, the worse the life expectancy of the tooth.

Wiggling front teeth also affect pregnant women in some cases. During pregnancy, the structure of some tissues in the body changes in preparation for the birth of the baby. The gums and gums are also affected. The tissues are also more susceptible to bacterial infections, which can cause inflammation of the gums or the gums. The teeth are no longer held in the tooth bed and wobble. A visit to the dentist is recommended.

Read also below. Bleeding gums during pregnancy

Another reason that affects older patients around the age of 40 or 50 is periodontitis. In periodontal disease (Dental inflammation) the tooth bed is inflamed and can no longer anchor the teeth firmly. The bone around the roots loosens and the teeth wobble.

Incisor wobbles after an accident

A wobbling front tooth can occur after a fall, accident or blow. The brief, excessive external force acting on the front tooth can have massively damaged it and the surrounding tissue. Therefore, the dentist should always be consulted in these cases. This examines the tooth carefully for any damage.
A longitudinal fracture is always the worst judgment associated with pulling the affected tooth. If the tooth is divided into two parts in the longitudinal fracture, it can no longer be treated because bacteria could repeatedly invade the fracture gap and the tooth would no longer be stable.

In the case of transverse fractures, the point at which the break is located is crucial, and root breaks also have a poor chance of healing. In the event of fractures in the tooth crown, they can be treated with a filling or crown without opening the tooth pulp. Once the pulp, the pulp, has been opened, the anterior tooth must first be treated with a root canal before it can be reintegrated into the rows of teeth with a crown

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The mere blow from the outside can also damage the nerve without anything having broken off or the nerve chamber even opening. The patient often notices weeks later that the incisor is turning gray because it is no longer supplied with nutrients through the vessels in the pulp. As a result, it must then be treated with a root canal and crowned.
Read more about this at: Root canal treatment

But the external force does not always lead to breakage of the tooth. Usually the incisor wobbles for some time, which can cause pain when biting directly. The dentist then splintes the loose incisor on the neighboring teeth so that it can heal firmly back into the tooth bed. After the closed season, the splint is removed and the tooth is fully resilient again.

What are the symptoms of a wobbling front tooth?

Possible discomforts associated with an incisor that wobbles include:

If the front teeth are damaged after a fall or an accident, toothache is a frequent accompanying symptom. The blow on the tooth can irritate it and damage it so severely that even light touch leads to severe discomfort.
In the accident, the surrounding tissue may also have been injured, which then reacts to it. The gums are swollen and reddened and are very painful. The tissues surrounding the mouth, such as the nose and lips, can also be swollen and injured.
With inflammatory causes, such as periodontitis or gum inflammation, the typical signs of inflammation are present as an accompanying symptom. The tissue is red, swollen, painful. It is quite typical that cold drinks and food achieve symptom relief and warm ones tend to worsen the symptoms.
Patients with wobbling incisors due to inflammation often have bite problems, as the teeth are pressed into the inflamed tissue with any force exerted.
Wiggling deciduous incisors when changing teeth often do not cause the young patient any complaints. Many children usually pull their loose teeth themselves or they get stuck in the apple when they bite.

Pain in wobbling front tooth

Loose and movable incisors can cause pain with very different pain qualities. The quality of the complaints depends on the cause.
With inflammatory causes such as inflammation of the gums or gums, the pain is a typical inflammatory pain. The gums feel thick and warm, and chewing can cause intense throbbing and dull pain. It is clear that cold food and drinks alleviate the pain, while hot coffee or soup aggravate the symptoms.

After a fall, blow or accident, the quality of the pain is different. The surrounding injured tissues trigger wound pain that is burning. The incisor itself can trigger a pulsating, throbbing pain when chewing, because the nerve is damaged. This is called a root inflammation (pulpitis). The nerve dies. In this case, only a root canal treatment can relieve symptoms.

Wiggling incisors in the primary dentition

Wiggling front teeth are normal in children around the age of 5 to 6 years and are in no way related to the disease. The incisors wobble and loosen until they fall out, as the subsequent permanent incisor takes its place.
Loosening occurs because the root of the primary incisor is reabsorbed, which means that it is dissolved. As a result, the milk tooth no longer has a hold, as the root is no longer there to anchor the tooth in the tooth bed and it loosens.

The lower central permanent incisors erupt at 6 years of age, in the upper jaw only a little later at around 7 years of age. The milk anterior tooth becomes so loose when the permanent tooth presses to the surface that the young patients can often pull them out themselves without the help of a dentist.
The following tooth then emerges through the gums to the surface and takes the place of the milk tooth, which was previously considered a placeholder.

In general, the dentist does not need to be consulted, provided there are no complaints that last longer. The child is allowed to try to wiggle the milk tooth himself without using force so as not to damage the teeth and gums.

However, if the tooth growth is not normal and the milk teeth prevent the permanent teeth from erupting, a visit to the dentist is recommended.
If you have any questions or are unsure, you should consult your orthodontist or an orthodontist.

Read more about this at: Changing teeth in children

What to do if the front tooth wobbles?

First and foremost, it is important for the adult patient to see the dentist as soon as possible. In particular, patients with falls and trauma should go to the hospital in advance to rule out craniocerebral trauma and cerebral haemorrhage. Afterwards, a dentist or an emergency service should be visited if the family dentist no longer has office hours.

The dentist can now initiate therapy as quickly as possible in order to preserve the tooth. In many cases, the wobbling incisors are immediately splinted onto the neighboring teeth so that they are strengthened and no longer have any mobility of their own. This is usually enough for the tooth to heal firmly again. The patient should be careful not to put excessive strain on the tooth and not to bite hard. Any overload can cause the tooth to loosen.

If the incisors are loose due to periodontitis, it is also advisable to go to the dentist early in order not to lose the teeth. The dentist initiates periodontal treatment as quickly as possible in order to remove the causative bacteria from the tooth bed and gum pockets.

The only case in which one can wait and see is when changing teeth with milk teeth. The child can try to remove the tooth himself. Only if this does not work should the treating dentist be visited.

How do you diagnose a wobbling front tooth?

The dentist tries to move the tooth and thus determines the degree of loosening, which is numbered from one to three. In the event of trauma (accident, fall or blow), X-ray diagnostics are used in order to be able to see existing fracture lines. The dentist first clarifies with the help of imaging procedures such as X-rays or a three-dimensional image (DVT), whether there are fractures within the tooth crown or the tooth root that cause the increased degree of loosening of the incisors.

In the case of inflammation of the dental bed, the gingival pockets are also measured in order to initiate periodontal therapy if necessary. When the incisors of pregnant women are loosened, professional teeth cleaning is often only done if she is in the second trimester of pregnancy. This can already lead to solidification of the teeth.
Wiggling milk teeth in children who are changing teeth are only removed by the dentist in order not to prevent the subsequent permanent tooth from breaking through.