Teeth and Accidents?

[sjccheerdoll]

Pirate was playing with the dog at his aunt's house, which has stained concrete floors. Pirate slipped and hit the floor.

We're returning home on Tuesday unless weather prevents.
He had a little blood around one of his top incisors (one of his "two front teeth"), and the other looks minimally chipped on one corner (think of sanding a corner to smooth). He cried for awhile, but won't let me touch his mouth even a few hours later, although his pain tolerance is pretty low.

I plan to call the dentist when we get home just for a quick check, but is there any rule of thumb here? I'm just worried he's going to bite into something and his tooth will fall out, or something similar. We're 1500 miles away from home and don't have dental coverage or a dentist out here.

Thanks!
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Elly
uberyoung knitmaven mama with to the Pirate

[mama2LilynDevon]

Lily's front two teeth has been knocked loose repeatedly. The first time it happened was about a year ago. So far they haven't fallen out. I called the dentist when it happened the first time and he told me to keep an eye out for excessive swelling or pain and if the tooth turns dark. It could turn dark from blood getting down in it or because it's dead. If it dies, it needs to be pulled. There is nothing they can do to prevent a baby tooth from falling out. The used to splint them in but they've found that it causes more problems then it does good. Keep an eye on him. If he still acts like if is really bothering him tomorrow I'd try to find a dentist to see him where you are. If the tooth broke up in his gum it can get infected. If it's not bothering him much just feed him softer foods until he will let you touch it and see if it's loose. If it is loose a lot of time they tighten up on there own but it may not all the way. Lily's are a little loose feeling and the dentist said his son knocked one of his top teeth loose when he was about 3 and he didn't loose it until he was seven but it stayed a little loose the entire time.
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Amanda, wife of 1, mom of 5

The Color Wheel on Etsy
Facebook

[3_girls]

I don't know much about teeth injuries, but I do know if the tooth starts to grey that it is dying. I don't know that there is too much that can be done about that, but the good thing is that these are his baby teeth. I wouldn't think that the tooth would just fall out unless it was obviously hanging on by a thread. Can you call a dentist where you are and get him checked out really quick? I would think you would want to do that sooner rather than later if you are worried. Check him out tomorrow and go from there. After a good night's sleep he will probably let you look at it.
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~Erica~

Mommy to Caitlyn (13), Jordyn (9), and Molly (almost 6) and our first boy, Nolan (23 months).
Married to Craig for 14 years!

[sjccheerdoll]

He let me look at it briefly but doesn't want me to touch it. This is in context with his aunt's cat (declawed) using him as a launch pad earlier, so yeah, low pain tolerance.

From what I can see, there's just a tiny bit of blood around the tooth itself. I pushed gently, but there wasn't any movement as far as I could tell. So far, it's just chipped SLIGHTLY - just a little bit rough on the bottom of one tooth and on the inside corner of the other. I gave him a dose of Tylenol and he fell asleep in bed. His tooth is still white and the other one, while slightly chipped, doesn't have any blood.

Today wasn't a good day for him... he jumped off the bed and fell against the wooden dresser in his grandmother's bedroom, the dog (Chihuahua) nipped him, the other dog (Great Pyrenees) tripped him, and the cat scared him half to death. Poor guy.

Thank you!
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Elly
uberyoung knitmaven mama with to the Pirate

[diggin]

there is not a lot that can be done post accident, just keep an eye on it and if he lets you just try a small wiggle. we have been through mouth traumas a few times. lodei had a hard fall at 18 mos where his upper right incisor was knocked into a different position. the denstists said he was too young to xray (wouldnt have stayed still) and just told us to keep an eye on him and bring him in twice yearly for them to look at. it did turn grey, but there was never any talk of pulling it. at 3.5 he had another fall and knocked it out completely. still we just went in 2x yearly so they couls measure the gap and make sure it wasnt closing (had it become narrower, they would have had him fitted with a "spacer" to hold the gap open. he is 7 and is FINALLY starting to get a tooth there

anoki just had mouth tramas 2 months ago (twice in one day, the poor bub) in preschool. he complained a lot about the pain for 2 days and the teeth were slightly loose, but did re-solidify in his mouth. both teeth are slightly grey now, but again, the orthodontist sees no need to pull them. we just watch for infection.

we have been told by dentists in both france and germany (and orthodontists) that teeth will often resolidify in place after a few days. you watch for signs of infection and make sure they continue to brush properly (if a tooth has been significantly loosened by a trauma it is easier for food rests to get under gums and cause bacteria to grow). if a tooth is knocked out they continue to watch the space and make sure it doesnt close any. if it does, the child needs a spacer to hold the space for the permanent tooth open.

i bet it will feel better in the next few days and will stay in.
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my name is bond, my name is bond. james bond, james bond
a.k.a. michi -- mama to 4 dingle dangles: jago 10, lodei 9 solen 7, my baby anoki is 6
no longer selling as my b&m business keeps me more than busy

[diggin]

it wont turn grey immediately (if at all), it can take from a week, two weeks up to a few months to start turning grey! lodeis didnt start greying for a few months.
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my name is bond, my name is bond. james bond, james bond
a.k.a. michi -- mama to 4 dingle dangles: jago 10, lodei 9 solen 7, my baby anoki is 6
no longer selling as my b&m business keeps me more than busy

[sjccheerdoll]

Thank you so much, Michi!

I called the dentist today - we fly home tomorrow, but they'll see us first thing Wednesday for x-rays, a quick check, and a possible filing. They weren't concerned.

I've been lucky - even for being very rough&tumble, Pirate has really never been seriously injured. In the past week or so, he's jumped off the bed smack into a wooden dresser, gotten assaulted by the cat, gotten assaulted by the Chihuahua, gotten tripped by the Great Pyrenees (all animal activity is under supervision), fallen into a cactus, and now the teeth thing. Gah.
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Elly
uberyoung knitmaven mama with to the Pirate

[hiding57]

[mama2LilynDevon]

[CrunchyClark]

Having a child who always falls on his face and has had soooo many emergency dental visits........they will only pull if it is causing problems. If it's dark, and causing pain, they will pull it. If it's dark and not causing problems, while unattractive, they'll leave it in to hold the space and only remove it when/if it causes problems.
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Holly
~Mama~ to boys L (15) & J (11.5) & B (6/25/11)
Surro-mama to C (6) and her twin sibs M&M (4)
www.momufactured.com
www.necessitae.com

[diggin]

[jodi_snider]

kellen whacked his top teeth at 2.5 and the dentist said they only needed pulling if they abcessed. we had them x-rayed and knew the roots were so severely damaged that they would eventually dissolve and fall out early (think maybe age 4-5 rather than 6-7), but if they abcessed before then they'd need pulling. if the roots had stayed intact, they could have been root canaled (not a word, i know) and salvaged, but since the roots died there was no saving them. one turned gray and one did not, but both abcessed an had to be pulled.

as for pain, kellen was really good at self-managing the pain. he bit with his side teeth, preferred softer foods and protected them while they got past the painful stage. we utilized tylenol as well. i hope pirate gets over the discomfort quickly and doesn't have any lasting after effects.
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jodi addicted to
married to jason 07.31.99
mama to kellen 05.20.05, ainsley 05.03.08 and bowen 12.28.10

[CrunchyClark]

Michi, I know it...I'm SO glad we know our ped dentist personally...otherwise I'm sure he'd think we were beating our child or something. I think we were in about every other month from 15 mos on. Or it sure seemed like it. He had two teeth crowned at 15 mos! And then managed to knock those crowns off in falls multiple times. It was madness!
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Holly
~Mama~ to boys L (15) & J (11.5) & B (6/25/11)
Surro-mama to C (6) and her twin sibs M&M (4)
www.momufactured.com
www.necessitae.com

[Babycakies]

It is less concerning with baby teeth then with adult teeth.

Keep a watch out for a darkening tooth... other then that,.. watch for any sign of absessing and brush as normal.
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~Melanie
- WAHM to Peanut(Dec 03), Bean(May 05) and Sprout (Apr 07).

EweWearEmS
Closed - All booked up!

[trista]

A darkening of a tooth doesn't mean anything for certain, actually. My kids have bonked their teeth and have turned them nearly black, and every time they have whitened back up. From my experience, most of the time, a dark tooth is just a bruise (or, like a bruise anyway).

The most important thing, as PPs have mentioned, is to watch for an abscess. A dentist can't tell from an x-ray if the tooth is dead or dying, even if it's darkened. The only thing you can do, is wait.

My kids are former thumb-suckers and paci-users, so their teeth stick out further than a "regular" mouth. We have a LOT of tooth trauma here, black teeth, loose teeth.... and have yet to lose a tooth that wasn't due to a permanent tooth forcing it out!
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