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Emergency Dental Care – Knowing When Your Child Needs It

Last updated on August 29th, 2015 at 04:34 pm

Teeth Injuries in kids With summer in full swing, kids are as active as ever with summer sports, swimming, day camp, and more. However, increased physical activity leads to increased risk of injury, which can include mouth injuries. Some injury might not need professional attention and can be easily treated at home. But for those instances where the injury is more severe, immediate medical attention should be sought after. Many dentists provide same-day emergency care for severe oral injuries. Being proactive and taking your child to the dentist after an injury can decrease the risk of progressed or even permanent damage.

Dental emergencies come in many forms. Whether the result of a sports accident or biting into something hard, children can experience severe pain from oral injuries. Some dental emergencies that can arise include:

Cracked or chipped tooth
Dislodged or knocked out tooth
Orthodontic emergency (i.e. broken wire or bracket on braces that is causing pain)
Lost filling or crown
Severe tooth pain
Bleeding gums

Not all dental accidents need immediate attention, so use your best judgment when deciding whether or not to take your child in for an emergency exam. For example, accidental loss of a baby tooth may not cause extreme damage and a permanent tooth can grow in and develop normally. Nonetheless, if your child is in pain, it is better to seek help from a dentist to ensure that the injury is taken care of.

Keep an eye on your child this summer and all year round, as dental emergencies can happen at any time. Don’t hesitate to seek immediate medical attention if the injury is severe. Ask your dentist about ways that you can help prevent certain emergencies from happening. Mouth guards are an easy and relatively inexpensive solution to preventing injury in sports, especially for children with braces. This can help your child protect their teeth for a lifetime of dental health.

June 23, 2014 | Filed Under Community | 20 Comments

Summer, Families and BBQ Safety

Last updated on October 5th, 2015 at 11:12 pm

It’s official, the kids are out of school and summer is here. All the things that happen during the summer will soon be upon us and grilling on the barbeque is certainly on that list. The list of safety precautions for the 4th of July and fireworks is a mile long and will be on every news station for the coming weeks. What will not get too much air time is the list of safety tips for Barbeque grills and the dangers of grilling. Being in the Firefighting profession, I have seen what happens when people take the Barbeque for granted and do not give the grill the amount of respect and preparation it deserves. From terrible burns to adults and children to house fires, grills definitely deserves your attention.

Grilling facts from NFPA

Be sure to use safe grilling practices as the peak months for grilling fires approach – June and July. Gas grills constitute a higher risk, having been involved in an annual average of 7,200 home fires in 2007-2011, while charcoal or other solid-fueled grills were involved in an annual average of 1,400 home fires.

Facts & figures

In 2007-2011, U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 8,800 home and outside fires. These 8,800 fires caused an annual average of 10 civilian deaths, 140 civilian injuries and $96 million in direct property damage.
More than one-quarter (27%) of the home structure fires involving grills started on a courtyard, terrace or patio, 29% started on an exterior balcony or open porch, and 6% started in the kitchen.
In almost half (43%) of the home outdoor fires in which grills were involved, half (51%) of the outside gas grills, and 29% of gas grill structure fires, the fire started when a flammable or combustible gas or liquid caught fire.

So while the grill is going and the steaks are on this summer, please remember that you need to be aware of the grill at all times. Now, when the grill and kids are brought together, there is an added level of awareness needed. Kids are naturally curious and that can be very dangerous when a live burning barbeque is involved so when the kids are around it is a good idea to introduce them to the barbeque and establish some safety rules such as a safety zone around the grill and not walking behind the grill and having a zero touching policy.

While at the Trauma center this past year with an adult patient, I met the parents of a 5 year old girl who was in surgery because their daughter had grabbed the grates on the grill and severely burned her hands. The father told me took his eyes off the grill for 1 minute to get a drink and that’s when his daughter went to the grill. It happens that fast.

So please be safe with the grill this summer. Have fun, eat well but be safe.

June 9, 2014 | Filed Under Community | 2 Comments

The Dark Side of Golf Carts: Hidden Danger for your Family

Last updated on August 13th, 2015 at 04:24 pm

If you have gone to play golf in the last 30 years or so, then you are probably familiar with golf carts. Playing golf and driving the cart around the course are part of what makes playing golf so much fun and up until a few years ago, golf carts have mainly been relegated to golf courses and maybe some fancy golf retirement communities around the country. But if you look around now, golf carts are everywhere. No longer are golf carts relegated to the golf course and surrounding communities. Golf carts and golf cart ownership have gone through the roof. Market research firm IBIS World forecasts that by 2016, 76,685 golf carts will be sold annually in the U.S and according to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS,) all but four states have laws that allow golf carts or other low speed vehicles to be driven on public roads. Alaska and Texas even let them be driven on roads with speed limits up to 45 mph, showing that golf carts are becoming a part of our everyday lives and accommodating them will be the next step.

Down here in sunny south Florida, golf carts are almost as common as cars. They have made taking the family to work, school, the park, and any place close by a much easier and more fun way to travel. Not to mention the cost effectiveness of saving on gas these days. When I drop my son at school I easily see 10 children being dropped off by parents in a golf cart and there are even golf cart parking spots in the teacher’s parking lot. There is no doubt golf carts are more fun. However, golf carts are giving people a false sense of security. When these carts were mainly on golf courses and driven by adults you rarely if ever heard of a serious accident involving one, but now with the exploding popularity and varying age range and experience of the drivers, this is changing as well and especially for children.

During 2010, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports dozens of people died in golf-cart related accidents. According to The University of Alabama at Birmingham, the national estimate for golf cart-related injuries was more than 15,000 annually during its recent four-year study. The injuries were highest among males, ages 10 to 19, and those 80 and older with fractures and head trauma being the most common injuries found in the study. According to an article in the July 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the rate of injury related to golf cart accidents rose more than 130 percent from 1990 to 2006. During this period, about 147,000 golf cart-related injuries were reported involving people as old as 96 years and as young as two months.

The numbers do not lie. Golf carts have a dark side and need to be taken more seriously both by lawmakers and parents.

From my own experience as a paramedic, what I’m seeing is that this is only getting worse. People are making the carts faster and the drivers are getting younger. We had a case here where a teenager flipped his cart with his 5 year old sister in the cart and we had to trauma alert the 5 year old. She ended up fine but it was still scary.

If you do happen to own one or are thinking about buying one for you and your family, think as you would when buying a car, think safety first. Seat belts are standard in cars and with the main injury from golf carts being ejection from the cart; they should be in your cart as well. Even if your local laws do not require lights, reflectors, a horn and safety belts, they should all be a part of your vehicle, because a golf cart is a vehicle and you will be sharing the road with actual cars. When driving the cart, please remember to drive safely, the website www.golfcartsafety.com has a great webpage and article on safely operating your golf cart, please take a look at this article before heading out or handing over the keys to anyone driving your cart.

As always, I hope you all have a happy and great summer and above all a Safe Summer.

April 28, 2014 | Filed Under Community | 6 Comments

Daffodils, Parmesan and Kids…Who Knew?

Last updated on April 15th, 2014 at 01:03 am

Daffodils - beautiful but dangerous Spring is here. Flowers are in bloom. In Connecticut one local town celebrates the arrival of spring with an annual daffodil festival. In fact – thousands of flowers. I wonder how many people know that the bulbs of the plant are among the most poisonous of all plants in the US.

And who doesn’t like a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled on- well in my house, on just about everything. And I like the bright inviting colors of the packaging- inviting me to indulge. Unfortunately Comet cleanser has equally colorful packaging. And certainly you never accidentally put your comet in the fridge and the Parmesan under the sink but look at products the way a child would. They are drawn to bright colors and to things that Mom and Dad handle and use.

Antifreeze used to smell really nice and became a common poison to our animals and kids. Manufacturers are no longer allowed to add perfumes to make the product smell better. Believe it or not, antifreeze performance does not improve with the addition of perfume and without it kids and dogs are safer.

So as you go about enjoying spring, getting into spring cleaning- check to make sure that your cabinets, both kitchen and bath have child proof locks. In the garage make sure that kids can’t get in or that products are well out of reach. Also make sure that shelving is very secure and won’t fall over onto curious, climbing kids. And finally check your fridge for Comet- just to be sure.

Accidental poisoning CAN be prevented- take a few minutes to check things out- don’t guess, be sure.

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Editors Note: This post originally ran in May of 2010 and was written by our former PedSafe EMS Expert Jim Love. Our thanks to him for some wonderful reminders

April 4, 2014 | Filed Under Community | 5 Comments

Administering Pediatric Safety for Childhood Emergencies

Last updated on August 30th, 2015 at 05:07 pm

Editor’s Note: While we would love to take credit for all the terrific information included in this post …(and of course are incredibly flattered that our name appears in the title)…in truth, we had nothing to do with the creation of this wonderful infographic. All credit (along with our thanks) goes to Adams Safety Training.