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So, about knocking permanent teeth loose. . .


plansrme
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My 11 yo was, essentially, standing in a chair, fell and hit his front teeth on the wooden table. That is not exactly the scenario, but close enough. He left teeth marks in the wooden table. This was at our neighbor's house, so our neighbor now has a permanent reminder of my kid. Anyway, he cut top and bottom of his tongue and, it appears, knocked two of his front teeth pretty hard. The gums bled, the tongue bled. The tongue is swollen, and the gum is swollen. The teeth are still normal-looking and not visibly displaced, but there is definitely an issue at the gum line.

 

So, level with me: is there expensive dental surgery in my near future? Our dentist is closed this week, but he called me back and essentially said, "What is done is done. Call me if it turns gray." Is that right, Dr. Hive, DDS? What are my chances that the teeth will recover?

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Possibly.  He needs to not eat anything hard or bite anything at all with those front teeth for at least a week, two is better (pizza crust is considered hard, cut things up into small pieces and chew them with molars).  Give them time to heal.  Watch for abscess and increased pain.

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The one thing that may happen in the long run is that the root will die and the tooth will just turn yellowish and it will be permanent.  I have a tooth that is like this from DD hitting her head on my front tooth with she was under a year old.  I know a young man that has a yellow tooth from a sports injury and also another mom, really it's not uncommon. 

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My 9 yo broke one tooth and knocked another couple teeth loose playing soccer.  Our doc referred us to an oral surgeon who did a quick x-ray before suggesting a retainer/brace and sending us to her regular dentist.  She had the retainer for two months.  We were told by the OS and her dentist that she should be very careful when eating for at least three months (e.g., no biting (with front teeth) into items such as apples or eating sticky items such as caramels).       

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My daughter cracked her front tooth, and ended up needing a root canal.  Since she was afraid of needles it ended up being very expensive as she needed to be put under.  She has a filling now, but eventually she will need a crown.  I no longer can look when any of my kids hurt their mouth- I'm so afraid of teeth being damaged!

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Dentist is correct. You just have to wait and see. If it kills the tooth, you have some expensive dentistry ahead. Write down the date and details of the accident. Damage to teeth from accidents can be covered under medical insurance. You do sometimes have to fight them, and they are more likely to pay if it is immediate. Teeth can take an amazing amount of abuse. Hopefully, his will be fine. A hit like this can also take a long time to kill off the tooth. He will need to know to watch it for, well, basically the rest of his life!

 

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Gah.  Y'all are not making me feel better!  We did realize last night that he'd bitten completely through his tongue.  What I thought was the imprint of lower teeth on the bottom of his tongue was actually an exit wound.  I called the on-call nurse for the children's hospital, and she said to bring him in, but the ER doc did not stitch it up.  Poor baby looks pathetic this morning.  

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There is a chance it could heal up.  FWIW, my ds broke a front baby tooth and lost the other one in a playground accident around 3 y.o.  The broken one that stayed in ended up healing quite strong and lasted until it got pushed out by the permanent one several years later.

 

Fingers crossed for you!

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Gah.  Y'all are not making me feel better!  We did realize last night that he'd bitten completely through his tongue.  What I thought was the imprint of lower teeth on the bottom of his tongue was actually an exit wound.  I called the on-call nurse for the children's hospital, and she said to bring him in, but the ER doc did not stitch it up.  Poor baby looks pathetic this morning.  

Yike!  What did they say for the tongue?

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Yike!  What did they say for the tongue?

 

I believe the official diagnosis was, "Ewwww!"  They just said not to eat anything acidic or salty for a while and to rinse his mouth after eating, but that it would heal up in 5-7 days.  They didn't stitch because food gets caught in the stitches.  He can't tolerate the thought of eating anything other than smoothies, which I am making with extra Greek yogurt.  

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Unfortunately, we have experience with this. Dd1 knocked out her brand new permanent teeth on the balance beam at age 6. They were re-inserted and braced, but only partially re-rooted. She had to have root canals on both. It has been almost 11 years and the teeth are doing okay. They are xrayed once a year. She will need dental implants eventually, but we are hoping to wait until her early twenties.

 

Dd2 knocked a baby teeth straight up (fell off a bench and hit the edge of a table with her mouth) at age 1. That tooth was pulled. But not before it damaged her permanent front tooth high up in her gums. At 10, she knocked her permanent tooth (trampoline) and had to have it re-set in her gum and braced. We are watching it now, it is really not straight, but braces may make things worse for the long term health of the tooth. So we are watching it to see when she will need a root canal.

 

Our dentists told us, if you knock a permanent tooth hard, you will need a root canal eventually. It may be twenty years or two. But it is best to keep your tooth in your head, so that you build strong bone to place implants later. 

 

Sorry, I hope he feels better soon. Trauma to the mouth is so painful and for my girls, it was so scary for them.

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