Dr. Greg Miller’s Emergency Dental Session 2024

Playground accidents, sporting injuries, farming mishaps and after-hours shenanigans can all lead to dental injuries and patients in pain turning up at emergency departments.

Thirty-five emergency surgeons from around Australia gave up their Sunday morning recently to learn how to triage and treat patients who show up at their hospitals with dental emergencies.

The workshop at Harley Dental in North Adelaide was led by Australian Dental Foundation chairman Dr Greg Miller and regional dentist Dr Mihika Mahandwan, as part of the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine.

Dr Greg and Dr Mihika gave presentations about administering Local Anaesthetic, dental anatomy and emergency procedures.

Participants were then invited to a practical session about administering local anaesthetic with some even bravely offering their own mouths for practice!

An avulsions workshop was instructional about preparing splints to temporarily reinstate teeth that have been knocked out.

The session was rounded out with learning about temperomandibular joint reduction – how to reinstate a dislocated jaw.

Dr Adam from Melbourne said it was the best training he had had in 20 years.

Dr Julia of Townsville said she regularly saw patients who had been hit by a cricket ball. “They don’t wear mouthguards in cricket, so there are quite a few injuries that come in over the weekend. This is great knowledge to have”.

Dentist Dr Mihika said emergency departments and their doctors are at the frontline of health care and it was important they are equipped to deal with whatever arrives.

Dr Mihika and Dr Greg volunteered their time for the session, as did regional dentist Dr Zarah Bathan, Harley Dental’s Dr Alex Caraballo and Dr Marionelly Salas, and dental students from the University of Adelaide.

Fees paid by participants were donated to the Australian Dental Foundation to continue its mission of eliminating tooth decay – one tooth at a time.