6 million car accidents occur every year. As more drivers flood roads due to easier access to vehicles and heightened migration into large cities, we’re seeing that number crawl upwards.
Whenever you read stories about the perils of vehicle collisions, you’re typically shown flashy statistics about serious injuries and even death. What’s not typically talked about are more minor injuries that accidents bring about.
Injuries like broken teeth and similar forms of dental damage.
If you’ve suffered damage to your teeth due to a vehicle collision, you’re likely entitled to compensation. Below, our team breaks down everything that you need to know about evaluating your mouth’s condition and maximizing your claim.
What Type of Dental Injuries Are Compensation Eligible?
There’s a misconception that minor dental injuries are not eligible for compensation. There’s also the notion that if you were taking part in “risky behavior” (ie: chewing on ice) when your crash occurred that you can’t make a damage claim.
Neither of those things is true.
Whether you suffered broken teeth in an accident, a chipped tooth or gum soreness, any injury that you incur that you wouldn’t have had to deal with if you weren’t the victim of a collision may be compensation eligible. For that reason, it’s important to pay close attention to and document any health abnormalities that you experience after becoming an accident victim.
What Are Common Accident-Related Dental Injuries
There are three classes of detail injuries that are commonly reported after being involved in collisions. Those injuries include:
Avulsed Teeth
An avulsed tooth is when a tooth has been hit so hard that it has completely come out of its socket. In these instances, you should be able to see your tooth’s root still attached to its crown.
When your tooth is pulled from its socket, your best course of action is to pick up your tooth by its crown, place it in a container and coat it in your saliva. With your tooth secured, rush to a dental emergency room to see if a practitioner can reinsert your tooth.
It’s likely that your tooth will die if it’s not reinserted in under two hours.
Fractured Teeth
A fractured tooth is one that has a cracked or broken crown. Depending on the severity of your fracture, you may not notice discoloration or soreness.
Dentists can reduce a fracture’s pain while it heals with numbing solutions. They can also make them more visually appealing by leveraging bonding solutions.
Luxation
Tooth luxation is when a tooth is loose in its base. The sensation is similar to what you experienced when you were an adolescent losing your baby teeth.
Depending on the severity of your tooth’s luxation, dentists may be able to restabilize it.
Evaluating Damage Entitlements
The amount of compensation that you’re entitled to for the dental issues that we’ve outlined and other problems outside of what we’ve mentioned will vary from person to person. The first step to ensuring that you maximize your compensation is talking to a lawyer.
A good lawyer will be able to help you arrange your dental visit with a professional that knows how to document accident victim’s conditions. Lawyers can also share information with you on monitoring injuries that may come to pass well after your accident.
This article from Truitt Law Offices talks about the phenomena of “slow burn” injuries in-depth.
After you’ve talked to a lawyer (or before if you have a medical emergency) you should visit a dentist. Your dentist should be briefed on the fact that your injuries were incurred in an accident. That way, they know to check for additional damage and can document their findings in a way that’s most helpful to your case.
Again, try to talk to a lawyer before visiting a dentist since they may be able to refer you to a dental practitioner that they work with regularly.
Expected Outcomes From Broken Teeth and Dental Damage Claims
If you’ve legitimately suffered dental damage as a result of an accident and have worked with a lawyer and a dentist to document that damage, you can expect opposing parties to build your related compensation demands into the settlement that they present to you. In rare cases, you may be offered a low-ball settlement or no settlement at all.
Those cases will go to trial.
Accident trials can be arduous (which is why all parties do what they can to avoid them). If you have a good lawyer and a strong case, the silver lining of trials is that a jury’s verdict could render you more money than a settlement would have. That’s because settlements represent a deal that opposing parties are striking with you. Trails, on the other hand, is when legal teams attempt to stick the opposition with the highest bill possible.
Broken Teeth Don’t Have to Mean a Broken Paycheck
Dealing with broken teeth or similar dental issues after an accident shouldn’t bankrupt you. You’re entitled to collect damages from the party at fault in your accident which should more than offset your financial burdens.
Remember, a good lawyer and a trustworthy dentist are your best friends when it comes to maximizing your dental settlement. Take the time to team up with great professional partners and you’ll enjoy a streamlined legal process.
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