An intact tooth may be literally pulled out of its natural seat, the alveolus, as a result of car accidents, play/sport traumatisms etc.

A rapid and precise procedure may allow a pulled out tooth to be reimplanted.

Of course, a pulled out tooth should be immediately located and not left at the accident place.

The tooth should be handled from the crown side (not from the root side) and rinsed in water. Soaps or disinfectants should not be used; most important, one should not attempt to clean the root by rubbing it too vigorously. Each of these manoeuvres may result in an irreversible damage to the living cells at the root surface.

Whenever possible, the tooth should be immediately placed back into its alveolus and kept in this place while rapidly consulting a dentist, who should be obviously alerted in advance by phone.

Alternate methods to transport the pulled out tooth to the dentist room include: (i) keep the tooth inside the patient's mouth, close to the cheek side, or (ii) place it in a can filled with water (also milk or saline solution).

The dentist will then attempt to reposition the tooth in its alveolus and solidarize it with the adjacent teeth.

This treatment will not guarantee that the traumatized tooth will remain into its alveolus forever; as a matter of fact, most reimplanted teeth will stay in situ for few years, and only occasionally for longer time. Nonetheless, even few years of persistence of a natural tooth do justify the correctness of such approach.

It should be emphasized that the chance of success of a reimplantation manoeuvre is strictly dependent on the time spent by the tooth out of its alveolus.

The tooth should never remain out of the mouth for more than 30 minutes.

It should not be forgotten that even in less serious traumatisms, e.g. a tooth fracture, damage may be minimized if the tooth fragments are recovered. The latter may be easily glued together with an optimal aesthetic result.