First Aid Lesson

I finally got to get out on my bike yesterday for the first time since October. Blue skies and temps in the 60's made for perfect biking weather. Well, actually any day that isn't snowing lately is good enough biking weather. My friend and I were 17 miles into a 20 mile loop when I nearly ran over a bike...and a teenage boy...and a lot of blood.

The kid had crashed less than a minute before I arrived and was just starting to raise his head from the puddle of blood on the asphalt and before I could ask if he was alright, he said, "I lost my tooth." I looked where his face had been laying on the asphalt and there was a perfectly intact tooth, roots and all.

Some basic first aid was clearly required, but what? Take a minute and think about it. What steps were necessary in this situation?

The first step should have happened before I got on the bike. I should have had a basic first aid kit. I had a tool kit for bike repairs but I had nothing for people repairs. Wrong decision. I'm going to remedy that today.

He obviously had a head injury, so I did know that I should be concerned about a concussion. By this time he was sitting up and talking and coherent so I didn't put him through any drills about what day of the week it was, etc. I asked if he'd lost consciousness and he didn't think so. Other bikers arrived and now there were four of us wondering what to do. For some reason I decided it was important to keep the tooth moist and clean so I took some gauze from someone who did have a first aid kit and we poured water on the tooth and wrapped it up. Wrong decision. Believe it or not the next person to come upon was...an oral surgeon. I'm serious! We are on a Summit County bike path on a Sunday afternoon with a tooth emergency and up rides an oral surgeon. He corrected my tooth decision and said the tooth needed to be reinserted back into the mouth as soon as possible. If the tooth is out of the mouth for more than an hour then it probably can't be saved. So we unwrapped the tooth and the kid (Ben) slid it right back in.

Ben had called his mother who was on her way, so we did not call 911. Wrong decision. Ben was a minor and none of us were sure about what to do. If the surgeon hadn't come by with his expert advice, then there probably would have been no chance to save the tooth. A paramedic or even a cop would have known what to do. Ben's mother was 20 minutes away so we walked him about 50 yards to the road to wait for her. While we were waiting, a cop saw us and pulled over. She saw that it was a head injury with a lot of blood and she immediately called for a paramedic. Ben started to protest that his mom couldn't afford an ambulance but the police officer assured him that there would be no charge.

Hopefully Ben saved his tooth and had no concussion. No harm was done by my not being prepared because a first aid kit, an oral surgeon, and a cop all appeared when they were needed, but I'm kicking myself anyway because I like to be prepared for these things.

Here are the lessons I learned.
1. Pack a small first aid kit.
2. Know basic first aid.
3. THE TOOTH GOES BACK IN THE MOUTH!
4. When in doubt, call 911.

The last point I'll make is about helmets. Ben wasn't wearing one. This could have turned out much worse. I even think a helmet could have protected his teeth because it extends beyond the forehead and might have hit the pavement before his mouth did.

5. WEAR YOUR HELMET!