Baby has damaged his tooth

Nicki

My 22 month old baby tripped this morning and has knocked one of his front teeth up into his gum

We took him immediately to the local minor injuries centre but other than advising us to give him calpol and ice it to bring the swelling down there was nothing else they could advise. They said it might fall out of its own accord over the next day or two. We are on holiday at the moment in Cornwall so not easily able to find an emergency dentist. He no longer seems in any pain or discomfort and is eating and drinking normally and the swelling has gone back down.

I know this is just a milk tooth and not the end of the world if it comes out, but he had such a beautiful smile (not all his teeth are through but his front ones were) and it makes me feel a bit tearful when I look at him at the moment. His big sister had a similar accident when she was about 4, but she broke her tooth and fractured her jaw, and had to have her two front teeth removed under GA. It took another 4 years for her adult teeth to come through and although she now has a lovely smile, I am sad to think that the little one won't have a perfect baby tooth smile either any more

polkadot

Hi Nikki,poor baby.My 5 year old did this when he was 15(ish months).

I would say dont stress too much for now (if you can),but please take him to the dentist as soon as you can.My DS fell in the bath and chipped the corner of it.Same as you-A&E said milk tooth will fall out and grow back-dont stress.

Unfortunately over the next year we went to A&E ( and did overnights in paeds) a number of times with various things going on with his tummy.Just before his second birthday one of the nurses noticed the tooth and asked about it.

He had dental x-rays done and they discovered that the crack had gone right up the shaft of the tooth to the nerve.As he was eating,he was getting bits of food trapped that were rotting and had fomed a horrible abscess causing the bad tum.

They put him on some antibiotics to clear it up and then a few weeks after did a tooth extraction-he was like a new little boy after that.

Please understand though that of course every situation is different and ours was very likely a "worse case scenario"-but stil worth knowing as a precation.

As for the little smile-DS is 5 now and still has his gap (none of his other babies have fallen out) and when he is asked about he tells his story with such bravado its just as cute as that little tooth...obviously he doesnt remember it himself but we have told him what happened.

I hope you get to enjoy the rest of your holiday anyway.

erdd2

Enjoy the rest of your holiday and take him to your own dentist when you get home.

paulsad

Oooh my little girl when taking some of her first steps stumbled and knocked out a baby tooth on a coke (alright beer) can right in front of me - I couldn't catch her in time and was literally sick, I did as you took her to casualty etc. All you can do is wait for new ones to grow - the good thing that came from this is it got me to fit those safety catches on the cupboards and safety plug covers etc.
My girl is very gorgeous and 30 now!

McKneff

Dont worry about it too much, he's eating and drinking okay and seems happy,
babies are so resillient, they fall down, they get up again.

Give him his Calpol to help him to sleep and see what he;s like in the morning.



He'll be fine............

Toothsmith

I would agree with the advice given at the hspital, an get hr to your own dentist when you get back home.

With a baby tooth, the intruded tooth will often re-errupt (come back through to the proper place) by itself over the next couple of months or so.

There is a possibility of damage to the adult tooth, if the developing tooth germ has been bashed too hard by the baby tooth, but such damage is rare.

If the tooth doesn't come back through by itself, it might need extracting, but that again is rare.

Enjoy your holiday. If you get a chance, then a phone call to your own dentist, and booking in for when you get home might not be a bad idea. But if not, do it as soon as you get home.

Nicki

Thank you Toothsmith. That is reassuring to read. My older DS has a dental appointment the day after we get back from holiday, so if they can't offer me one for the baby sooner than that I might ask if he can have his older brother's appointment and make a new one for big bro. I'll phone them in the morning.

Poor little chap has been so accident prone this holiday. We've only been here a week and he already had a bump on the head (fell while running downhill), a cut on his top lip (stood too close to car door when his sister was getting in) and nipped fingers (got them caught in a drawer when closing it) so when he tripped and hit a chest of drawers this morning amid oceans of blood, it was the straw which broke the camel's back for us. Hopefully we can survive the rest of the holiday without further injuries!

Nicki

I just wanted to come back and update this thread in case anyone else searches for an answer to a similar problem.

We came back from holiday and took baby to see the dentist who was utterly hopeless! She didn't even look properly in his mouth because she said he was uncooperative (he was sitting on my knee in her chair, completely still with his mouth as wide open as a toddler can get!) and didn't really have any advice apart from to say to take him to the emergency dental hospital who might be able to get a better look. We then had a serious medical emergency the next day with another family member, time passed and further dental help for the baby just didn't happen...

Roll on two months though, and the tooth has almost completely reemerged to its usual place. The front two teeth still look a little skewiff but its not dramatic and the tooth which was pushed up does clearly still have another mm or so to come down, which may solve the problem completely. He isn't in any pain or discomfort and the teeth don't seem loose and aren't discoloured in any way. So, all in all, time and no intervention seems to have sorted the problem out and he is (nearly) as handsome as before the accident happened!

Thanks everyone for your advice when I was frantic.

Toothsmith

Might be an idea to look around for a dentist with a bit more about them.

In the same way that the best time to fix your roof is when the sun's shining, the best time to look for a new dentist is when everyone is fit and healthy!