Know any small children who've had to have teeth pulled? UPDATE POST 24

[bigbabyblues]

Don't give up on his tooth yet, my DS did the same thing right before his 3rd birthday, and even though his two front teeth were discolored, he didn't have to have them pulled.

He just turned 7, and has lost both front baby teeth. The permanent ones are coming in just fine, although the one is a little slow coming in, they aren't discolored or anything. Crooked, probably....braces are in his future.

 

[autumnbaby9]

At least take him to a dentist and have it looked at. They will try to save the tooth if it is at all possible but a tooth that is damaged too much can cause problems for the teeth around it.

My niece threw a temper tantrum at the grocery store when she was 18 months old (seems to be a common age on this thread) she hit her front tooth on the bar of the shopping cart and chiped it a little. My sister (crazy woman that she is) decided to do nothing about it. My niece and her younger sister were taken away from my sister and my mother jumped through hoops with Health and Welfare to get the tooth looked at. By the time she got approval about a year had passed forom the time of the injury. Not only did the one tooth have to be pulled because it rotted out, it also caused damage to the tooth next to it and both had to be pulled.

 

[bumbershoot]

Wow! Thanks for all of the responses & stories. Obviously no one clear decision is made in this situation! I'm calling the dentist in a little while, and may consult a pediatric dentist as well, though he's always been great with the kids.

I'll let you all know what he said!

If you have a dentist that you like and trust, and that will work with your son, don't go elsewhere.

We only saw a ped dentist b/c no one else would look at DS b/c they didn't have knowledge about anesthetics and little ones. But we started looking for someone before he was one...by the time we had the work done as he was approaching 3, I'm sure we could have used a regular dentist, especially since he barely needed anesthetic at all. If we had a dentist who would have worked with him (we didn't even have a dentist...DH had his first appointment in well over 10 years, and I had mine in over 7 years, just this last year! no cavities, all is well, but we didn't have a "go to" person to call at the time) we would have stuck with him or her.

 

[luvmyboys]

Just got back from the dentist. Riley was so well behaved! I was so proud of him for being a brave little guy! They took x-rays, and because there is no infection and the tooth is not loose, the dentist said we'd just leave it in and monitor for an abcess. He said the nerve is definitely dying-- no chance it can be restored.

Anyway, other than being unsightly for the next 3-6 years (argh!!), it should turn out ok. The adult tooth is unharmed. He also isn't allowed to bite into hard foods like apples.

Thanks for all the stories and advice guys!

 

[HamTown]

Glad to hear everything is okay for now.

My DD was 18 months when I noticed that one of her brand new teeth (on the bottom, third one over) was broken off halfway. We have absolutely no idea how it happened. Our regular dentist checked it and said that as long as she wasn't screaming when she had her sippy cup, everything was okay. By March she wasn't chewing on that side and it was starting to turn grey so we brought her to a pediatric dentist. X-rays indicated a completely dead tooth that was likely to abscess. He set us up with an oral surgeon who used "twilight" sedation. They gave her the medication orally, when she got sleepy they wrapped her in a big beach towel so her arms were secure. I sat behind her head and held it while they extracted the tooth. Took about 30 seconds.

The biggest problem was the novocaine numbing her tongue. She chewed her tongue to pieces.