DS(8) Broke his front tooth in half!

[twinklebug]

What a miserable weekend it's been with all the rain, cancelling our Disney travel plans (different story) and with DS (8) coming home from the athletic club with a jagged tooth line. I took him to the dentist within an hour of it happening (hoping he could do some dental magic) and Dr. Dentist just sat there with the mirror shaking his head as though the tooth were too far gone. When he finally did speak he said "With that much of the tooth gone, I just can't believe there's no exposure." ... Excuse me? So that's good right?! Could you just GLUE this piece back on and we'll be going?

He didn't say it was good (and no, I didn't actually ask him to glue the cracked piece back on ... just wanted to) ... Dr. D said just that he'd "build it up" in 2 weeks (is this called a cap?) but most likely it would need a root canal!!! OH! OWie! OK, why do I feel like this is MY fault? He was with DAD!!!

Oh phooey, I need a brain drain ... cancel school... pack up the wallpaper... we're moving to Disney... It's safe there; aren't the streets rubberized?

 

[Mermaid02]

Your poor son! I wouldn't be able to keep my tongue off it in the mean time.
If moving to WDW is an option- I'm there too!

 

[monarchsfan16]

I've been in your son's shoes. Just a few months after my front adult tooth grew in, I broke it (landed face first on the part of a grocery cart that people put their feet on). The "building up" part isn't so bad. The dentist might give him novicaine, which is not that fun since even the nose goes numb when you get novicane in the front of your mouth. But other than that it's a breeze. He'll match the color of the existing part of the tooth, and put this stuff on it that looks like tooth. Then he'll shine a blue light on it, the tooth will harden, he'll shape it, and it'll be done. Mine took maybe 45 minutes.
As for the root canal, if the nerve dies that becomes a necessity(definite possibility anytime there is trauma to the tooth), been there too. I broke my tooth when I was 7. The nerve didn't die until a couple weeks before my 18th birthday. Make sure your son knows to let you know if his tooth starts to hurt a lot. It probably aches right now; that's fine. But if he suddenly wakes up one morning, and his tooth hurts, a ton, then he needs to see a dentist. The root canal is not as bad as its reputation. And the tooth might never need a root canal.
Hope your son is feeling better. Breaking a tooth hurts!

 

[CarolG]

Our younger DS broke one of his front teeth at about the same age. He set up a ramp in the back yard to jump his bicycle over, and didn't seem to notice there was a tree just a few feet beyond the end of the ramp.

The dentist built up the tooth with some kind of composite material, and it looked fine... Until DS and our German Shepherd collided head-to-head a year or so later and we had to repeat the process. However, he's 18 now, and surprisingly made it through 4 years of high school football without breaking the replacement again.

Our dentist also said he'd probably have to have a root canal eventually, but the tooth has been fine so far.

I hope your DS is feeling OK now!

 

[N.Bailey]

I'm certainly no expert here, but I believe when the dentist said he couldn't believe there was no exposure, he meant that nerves weren't effected, so your son shouldn't be in any pain while he has to wait the 2 weeks out.

Keep in mind, this is simply MOO. I could be WAY off base.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

Been there. I broke my front tooth completely off when I was in the mountains with my scout troup, 6th grade. We went to the mountains to to intertubing during the winter, and during my last run, as the intertube raced down picking up speed, it steered towards the building we had been sleeping in, a cement brick building. So, as you can imagine, the building didn't move...even when my big head it hit face first. When I got back, my mom had to call the dentist on a Sunday 'cause I had the nerve haning out of the tooth, and it had been all day (the drive back from the mountains wasn't pretty). So I had the nerve taken out on a Sunday. Later the next week the Dentist did a mold of my mouth so he could fit a new/fake tooth on. It took a couple of weeks for all this to finish up. So I can feel his pain, and your pain for having to deal with it.

 

[Cinderella2004]

No exposure means he could not see the nerve. Nerve damage can sometimes take some time to show. It can show by several ways, sensitivity, the tooth greying out are just a couple.

A build-up is made of composite material. It is not a cap/crown.

Did he check to see if the tooth or adjoining ones are loose? Sometimes a dentist will put a splint on the adjacent teeth so they can "firm" up back into place.

As OP have mentioned, build-ups can last a week, or years. Most commonly they last 2-5 years. They can be stained easily, by tobacco products as well as coffee, tea, soda, dark beverages etc. Drink them all through a straw and you can keep that taken care of for a while.

Good luck. I'm sorry this happened to your son.

 

[ktglads]

Talking from experience, if they offer a pin in the tooth, TAKE it. I broke my front tooth originally when I was 8 rollerskating. I then managed to break it again 8 separate times after that before they put the pin in (the new tooth wasn't the sturdiest). I have not required a root canal as of yet, since the nerve is still alive, but I have had to have a crown put on the tooth maybe 3 years ago, so roughly 15 years after the original break.

 

[twinklebug]

Wow - Thank you everyone. I'm feeling a little better now, it was just SO much in one short weekend. DS came home from school today saying "I hate my broken tooth" and I reassured him that dentists can do amazing things... his tooth will look & feel normal in no time. *sigh*

I'll keep in mind the "pin" info, although I honestly have no clue what the difference between a cap, crown, pin and build-up are. Time to seek out a dental database!

No exposure means he could not see the nerve. Nerve damage can sometimes take some time to show. It can show by several ways, sensitivity, the tooth greying out are just a couple.

A build-up is made of composite material. It is not a cap/crown.

Did he check to see if the tooth or adjoining ones are loose? Sometimes a dentist will put a splint on the adjacent teeth so they can "firm" up back into place.

As OP have mentioned, build-ups can last a week, or years. Most commonly they last 2-5 years. They can be stained easily, by tobacco products as well as coffee, tea, soda, dark beverages etc. Drink them all through a straw and you can keep that taken care of for a while.

Good luck. I'm sorry this happened to your son.

There's a lot of info in your post alone... thank you! From my angle it didn't look as though the dentist did not touch the surrounding teeth. He's an older dentist though in a partnership with his son... we've been using them for years and both are very good & I'm sure share their knowledge and experiences so I'm hoping what's best for my son is what he is choosing to do: building-up the tooth. I will keep straws handy!