OT - Denitst related question...son's tooth turned gray

[cmaee]

I took my DS in the dentist this afternoon and he is fine, just a gray tooth. The dentist looked at it and promptly asked me if he had hit his mouth. I told him I didn't remember him hitting it and neither did he, but we certainly couldn't rule that out knowing how rough he and his brother are. The dentist took some x-rays to be sure and they showed no decay or infection. He said that sometimes when a tooth experiences trauma that the blood vessel in his tooth will in effect burst and the blood has no where to go but to pool out into the surrounding cappillaires which in turn makes the tooth appear gray. He said that as long as the tooth doesn't hurt or begin to show signs of an infection, then he was going to leave it alone. If it does begin to show any of those signs, then he would pull it out. He said that it is extremly common. He did say that his adult teeth were ready to start coming in and didn't think it would be too much longer before the baby teeth start falling out. Maybe he won't have to walk around with a gray tooth much longer.

On the comment where kids kept telling their son that he had cavities made me laugh. My oldest DS was telling his brother that his tooth was gray because of cavities and that they would have to drill his tooth out of his mouth....which of course scared his brother to pieces. Such brotherly love...

Thank you all for your help, suggestions, and encouragement. I certainly felt better about waiting until today to see the doctor because of you sharing your life experiences with me.