Did your child ever chip their front permanent tooth

[mominwestlake]

I am so upset. DH took dd camping this weekend. Another girl always brings 2 mountain bikes for the kids to take turns riding. DH and dd both know that I am against her riding a bike at a campground that wasn't intended for biking. Anyway, she fell off the bike yesterday and chipped her front, upper, permanent tooth. One of the other dads is a dentist. He said the chip is medium and she'll need veneers. Does anyone have any experience with this? I am pretty upset. He took her to the emergency room and I am worried about that cost plus the cost of the veneers. I am grateful that it wasn't worse but....... I am more worried about the look. I know that is vain and I apologize but she is my beautiful 11 year old daughter. The look of your teeth matters.

 

[NikitaZee]

This happened to our 9 year old son a couple of months ago. He came home from school with a chipped tooth, from rough football at recess. We brought him to the dentist right away, and they applied some type of bond to the tooth. It was a small chip - maybe 1/4 or less of the bottom front tooth was gone. The bond was effective immediately, can't be seen at all, and he can eat and drink whatever he wants with no restrictions. Our insurance covered it, but I don't think it was very expensive. The whole thing only took about 30 minutes. Good luck.

 

[Forevryoung]

My dad is a dentist who does veneers. Depending on the chip, you can either find someone to use bonding material to build up the tooth or go with the veneer option.

Both options will look similar and be permanent (both have the ability to chip just like natural teeth). Bonding will be cheaper (veneers require considerable time and lab work, bonding doesn't). My grandma's veneer chipped off and my dad replaced it with the bonding material... looks the same.

I would find a cosmetic dentist who can tell you honestly about several options.

 

[pumba]

our son "chipped" almost half of his front tooth 30 years ago. The dentist did a bonding thing and he didnt have to have that replaced until he was in high school. The newer material now a days stays better and does not retain stains from colas and coffee.....He suffered no problems with this injury. Although his father and I did......suffer that is. Main thing was to make sure that no damage was done to the root.

he was in grade school when the injury happened.

 

[mominwestlake]

So maybe I should look around and not just use our regular dentist? I just want whatever we choose to look good. Plus, she'll probably be getting braces this summer so I don't know how that will figure in. I guess I am just ticked with dh's attitude. NOTHING is ever a big deal to him. He is just so laid back about everything. Our marriage is already on the rocks and this is just another thing. It's not that I blame him. It's another thing he overrode me on- I said I didn't think bikes were safe at camp riding down hills. He tells me to loosen up. This happens. And yes, I know it could have happened at recess! But she is turning 12 soon and looks are starting to matter.

 

[mominwestlake]

our son "chipped" almost half of his front tooth 30 years ago. The dentist did a bonding thing and he didnt have to have that replaced until he was in high school. The newer material now a days stays better and does not retain stains from colas and coffee.....He suffered no problems with this injury. Although his father and I did......suffer that is. Main thing was to make sure that no damage was done to the root.

he was in grade school when the injury happened.

Pumba, we won't find out about the root until she sees the dentist. The emergency room put some kind of patch on in case it was to the root.

 

[wdwfan16]

It became a joke in our family to pick the next person who would chip thier front tooth. All were built up with bonding and cost was minimum. One even had an exposed root and it never died. The dentists alway worried about the other front tooth that took the hit and did not break. They can test to see if the root if fine. Watch for any discoloration and get to the Dentist ASAP.

 

[wdwfan16]

So maybe I should look around and not just use our regular dentist? I just want whatever we choose to look good. Plus, she'll probably be getting braces this summer so I don't know how that will figure in. I guess I am just ticked with dh's attitude. NOTHING is ever a big deal to him. He is just so laid back about everything. Our marriage is already on the rocks and this is just another thing. It's not that I blame him. It's another thing he overrode me on- I said I didn't think bikes were safe at camp riding down hills. He tells me to loosen up. This happens. And yes, I know it could have happened at recess! But she is turning 12 soon and looks are starting to matter.

Let it go with your DH. If you do divorce this will happen more often than you can count and you will have no power to stop it. You might just as well learn to go with the punches now and maybe your marriage will get better.

If it makes you feel better I would have let my 12 year old (if I had a 12 year old) ride the bike too. A broken front tooth is easily fixed.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

DD's tooth is immortalized in the floor of her grammar school gym. The dentist bonded her front tooth (at least 1/2 of the tooth was gone). She was 5 when this happened. She is 17 now and it is still in place. The tooth is a bit longer than the other one since the tooth was not fully grown. I would highly recommend getting a tooth bonded before I would do a veneer. Good luck either way.

 

[Magic Mom]

So maybe I should look around and not just use our regular dentist? I just want whatever we choose to look good. Plus, she'll probably be getting braces this summer so I don't know how that will figure in. I guess I am just ticked with dh's attitude. NOTHING is ever a big deal to him. He is just so laid back about everything. Our marriage is already on the rocks and this is just another thing. It's not that I blame him. It's another thing he overrode me on- I said I didn't think bikes were safe at camp riding down hills. He tells me to loosen up. This happens. And yes, I know it could have happened at recess! But she is turning 12 soon and looks are starting to matter.

Don't worry so much about your DD's looks. She will pick up on it even if you try to keep it from her.

 

[jazzielady]

I did! That's what happens when you play with a baton and don't know what you're doing.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Teeth get chipped sometimes, it's easily fixed these days. Yes, I would take her to a cosmetic dentist. If anything, her teeth will look even better than before. It will be perfectly okay, this is one of those things that happens in life.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Don't worry so much about your DD's looks. She will pick up on it even if you try to keep it from her.

Yes, PLEASE! To paraphrase Judge Judy: Beauty fades, intelligence/personality/compassion is forever.

A chipped tooth is easily resolved (and, frankly, not emergency-room worthy). We have no idea why you wouldn't take her to your regular dentist. He or she would be the smartest place to start, both for treatment and recommendations. Trust us, though - a chipped tooth isn't going to change her life in any negative way. Look at Lauren Hutton - gorgeous high-fashion model with a noticeable gap between her front teeth. Made her distinctive, NOT unattractive.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Chipped my top front tooth about 30 years ago. Actually it chipped diagonally from the bottom center to the top right, almost 1/2 the tooth. Dentist bonded it. I think it's fallen out twice in 30 years, but the bonding looks completely natural and I'm sure is much less expensive than veneers. Good luck and don't worry about your daughter's looks. I was about her age when it happened and no one would ever know if I didn't tell them.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

I got hit in the face with a baseball bat around 8 and took a nice chip out of my tooth. I never got it capped or fixed in any way. Im 25 now and have no problems with it.

 

[pumba]

just to add another two cents here.

Our son also had braces on for two and a half years and it was still in place after the braces came off....only problem was 30 years ago the bonding absorbed the dyes from colas and coffee.....now a days it does not....but the bonding is still going strong on the newer one that was done 20 years ago......

 

[pezheadmeg]

Did it myself when I was 6. To be honest, I can't even tell which tooth it is. Mine's bonded.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I chipped my front tooth when I was 7. Tripped and landed face first on the bottom rung of a grocery cart. The part some people have their kids stand on. It was my own fault. I was racing my younger sister to see who could get to the cart first. In other words, we were being kids I was a very nervous kid, so I basically refused to have anything done for the tooth for years. This turned out to be a good thing. The damage was VERY obvious for a few years, but when I got braces, the tooth was straightened out and the visible damage was minimal. The summer after I got my braces off, the dentist fixed the chip. Bonding. I, personally, wouldn't say that it looks natural, but no one asks about it, and when I do tell people about it, they say they never would have realized it. And my issue with the appearance is just because the dentist shaped it funny. So this is an issue with MY dentist. I know plenty of people with very natural-looking bonded teeth.

One thing I would caution; nerve damage doesn't necessarily appear right away. Just before my 18th birthday I woke up one morning with INTENSE tooth pain. The nerve died. The trauma to the tooth had damaged it, but nothing was visible for years (and I swear I've had 100s of extra x-rays of that tooth), and it took years for there to be a problem. Resulted in an abcess. So I had a root canal (which was no big deal; the nerve had died so there was no pain). Again, it's something fixable, but it's something to watch out for.

The bonding on my tooth DID chip a bit last fall. I was 22. I DO have food restrictions (no biting into apples, and no opening soda cans with my teeth), but bagels definitely aren't one of them. I bit into a bagel, and a small part where the bond connects to the tooth (so kind of in the middle of the bottom of the tooth) chipped. It was a 20 minute visit to the dentist to rebond it, and to be honest, I think this fix looks more natural than the original.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Are there really people out there that open cans of soda with their teeth?

 

[DisneyLover83]

I chipped about half of my front tooth off at age 15, had a bonding until age 26, now it is a crown. No one can tell it is a crown unless I tell them. Oh and I was told not to bite into apples, eat corn on the cob, etc.