What you should do with your teeth depends on the situation: caring for the ones in your mouth, saving a tooth that’s been knocked out, handling a child’s lost baby tooth, or deciding what happens to a tooth after extraction. Each scenario has a clear best course of action, and some options might surprise you.
If a Tooth Gets Knocked Out
A knocked-out permanent tooth can often be saved if you act within 30 to 60 minutes. Pick it up by the crown (the white part you normally see), never the root. If it’s dirty, rinse it gently in milk, saline, or your own saliva. Do not scrub it or use tap water, which can damage the delicate root surface cells that help the tooth reattach.
The best thing you can do is push the tooth back into its socket immediately. Bite down gently on a clean cloth to hold it in place, then get to a dentist. If reinserting it isn’t possible, drop the tooth into a small container of milk or hold it inside your cheek against your gum. Milk’s chemical balance keeps root cells alive far longer than water or a dry napkin. A dentist will clean the tooth, reposition it, and splint it to the neighboring teeth while it heals.
Daily Care That Actually Matters
Brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste remains the single most effective thing you can do. For adults and children over six, toothpaste with roughly 1,450 ppm fluoride is the standard recommendation. Children under six should use 1,000 ppm fluoride in a pea-sized amount, supervised to minimize swallowing.
If your teeth are sensitive to cold drinks or sweet foods, look for toothpaste containing potassium nitrate. It works by calming the nerve fibers inside your teeth, blocking the pain signals they send when exposed to triggers. Some toothpastes also contain fine abrasive particles that physically seal the tiny tubes (called tubules) running through your tooth surface, adding another layer of protection against sensitivity.
Cleaning Between Your Teeth
Flossing gets a lot of attention, but the real goal is cleaning the spaces your toothbrush can’t reach. A large cohort study tracking adults from 2015 to 2018 found that people who cleaned between their teeth seven or more times per week had a 38% lower rate of gum bleeding compared to those who never did. Cleaning five or six times a week still showed meaningful benefits, while doing it only once or twice a week made almost no difference.
Interdental brushes and water flossers appear to outperform traditional string floss for reducing plaque and gum inflammation. If you find flossing awkward or painful, switching to one of these alternatives is a perfectly good move. The tool matters less than the consistency.
After a Tooth Extraction
The first 48 to 72 hours after having a tooth pulled are about protecting the blood clot that forms in the empty socket. If that clot gets dislodged, you develop a dry socket, which is significantly more painful than the extraction itself. The core principle is to avoid any suction or negative pressure in your mouth.
That means no drinking through straws, no forceful spitting (drool gently into a cloth instead), no smoking, and no alcohol until the site has healed. Avoid brushing directly around the extraction area for at least 24 hours. Stick to soft foods and let the area close up on its own. Most people feel substantially better within three to four days.
What Happens to Extracted Teeth
Extracted teeth are classified as regulated medical waste under federal workplace safety rules. Dental offices must dispose of them in designated biohazard containers. However, you can ask your dentist to return your tooth to you. Once it’s handed over, it’s no longer considered a biohazard and becomes your property to do with as you please.
Some people keep wisdom teeth or other extracted teeth as curiosities. Others are exploring a newer option: stem cell banking. The soft pulp inside a tooth contains a type of stem cell that can be harvested up to five days after extraction. A single wisdom tooth holds roughly 200,000 to 300,000 of these cells, and they multiply more readily than stem cells drawn from bone marrow. Research has shown potential applications in bone regeneration, nerve repair after spinal cord injuries, and restoring salivary gland function after radiation therapy. That said, clinical trials in humans are still limited, and banking services come with ongoing storage fees, so the practical payoff remains uncertain for now.
Treating Cavities Without Drilling
For small or early-stage cavities, especially in young children, a liquid called silver diamine fluoride (SDF) can stop decay from progressing. A dentist brushes it directly onto the cavity for about 60 seconds. Systematic reviews show it arrests roughly 80% of treated lesions. The tradeoff is cosmetic: SDF permanently stains the decayed area black, which makes it more practical for baby teeth or hard-to-see surfaces in adults. It’s painless, requires no numbing, and takes under a minute.
What to Do With Baby Teeth
When children lose their primary teeth, families around the world handle them in wildly different ways. In most English-speaking countries, children tuck the tooth under their pillow for the Tooth Fairy. In parts of North Africa and the Middle East, kids throw their tooth toward the sun. Across much of Asia and Latin America, the tradition is to toss a lower tooth onto the roof and bury an upper tooth in the ground, symbolizing the direction you want the new tooth to grow. In parts of Eurasia, children leave baby teeth in mouse holes. Some cultures wrap the tooth in bread or meat and feed it to an animal.
If you’d rather keep the teeth, a small labeled container works fine. Baby teeth are biologically inert once they’ve dried out. Some parents hold onto them for sentimental reasons, others for the stem cell potential mentioned above, since baby teeth (particularly ones that fall out naturally with some pulp tissue intact) contain the same type of harvestable cells as wisdom teeth.
Whitening: What’s Safe
Over-the-counter whitening strips and trays typically use low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide. Professional in-office treatments use much stronger formulations, ranging from 35% to 50% hydrogen peroxide, sometimes activated with a light or heat source. Higher concentrations produce faster results but carry greater risk of temporary tooth sensitivity and gum irritation.
For home use, following the product’s instructions on timing is critical. Leaving strips on longer than directed doesn’t whiten more effectively; it just increases the chance of sensitivity. If you have exposed roots, receding gums, or cracked teeth, check with a dentist before whitening, as peroxide can penetrate damaged enamel and irritate the nerve inside.