This series of shorts will deal with emergencies that may occur in dental health and the first aid that may be applied in such circumstance.
The population of dentist serving the country is about 4400, four thousand four hundred dentists, is totally insufficient for the country of roughly a population of a hundred and fifty million people. There is a great skew towards the south-west and south-south geo-political zone with half of the number practising in the region. A sizeable number are present in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. Access to dental facilities is therefore limited, it is hoped that the series will assist readers in getting first aid treatment prior to finding an oral health facility.
Dislocated jaw
The mouth and facial skeleton are composed of joints between the mandibular head and the temporal bone of the skull .The joint derives the name from the component bones making the joint, Temporomandibular joint. (TMJ).
The dislocated jaw occurs when someone opens the mouth too wide as in yawning; the mouth is unable to close. The mouth remains open and referred to as dislocated. The mouth (jaw) is open and stuck in an open position, preventing closure, tiredness of the muscle, reduced speech, dribbling of saliva difficulty in chewing, as the mechanism of chewing will involve the opening and closing of the jaw.
The jaw can accidentally be dislocated during routine dental treatment and this should not be a deterrent to receiving dental treatment!
The initial emergency treatment for a dislocated jaw will be to get the jaw supported, the neck supported against the wall and the person placed on the floor.
The operator or giving the first aid should sit in front or kneel in front of the person; whichever is comfortable. The fingers should be put under the jaws outside the mouth. The thumbs should be placed beside the last tooth, molars in this case, not on the teeth as the individuals may bite them during the manoeuvre.
Slight downward pressure should be applied with the ends of the thumb force the jaw quickly downwards and backwards. If after two or three attempts, the jaw does not move into place give some analgesics and see the nearest dentist. The dentist may need to put the person to sleep or sedate to reduce pain and relax stiff muscles before reducing the jaw dislocation back to the original position.
Once relocated, the jaw should be supported by a head and chin bandage to support the jaw for at least five days, over the counter analgesics to cope with the inflammation and pain.
Soft diet should be taken for the next couple of days. The mouth should not be opened too widely say yawning lest the dislocation happens again.
The first aid tips are not a substitute for treatment, they are a stop gap to the period that elapses before help can be reached or accessed.
The idea of a twenty four hour dental service is still restricted to the teaching hospitals, general hospitals and the federal medical centres that have on call dentists to deal with emergency cases.
