Smashed teeth

[Tizzy]

Back when DS2 was 14mths he knocked a corner off of one of his front teeth. It's not extremely noticeable and never caused him any trouble so I never took him to see a dentist.
Then yesterday he tripped and did a face plant on cement and smashed his other front tooth It's much more damaged and I'm afraid I need to take him to a dentist. Would you take him to a regular dentist or should I be looking for a specific kid's dentist? I assume they would have to take x-rays to determine how far up the damage goes. He hasn't shown any hot/cold sensitivity yet but the edge is jagged and I can't see it being very comfortable. How could they possibly go about repairing it? Do you think he'd have to be sedated or under general anesthetic? As good as he is, I don't think he'd be able to sit still long enough for anything significant to be done about it!

Any experiences or advice you can share??

[hergrace]

If you take him to a dentist, I would look for a pediatric dentist. The fact that they are set up to work with kids has always made me and my kids more comfortable about the whole dental experience.

The first chip at 14 months sounds like DS1's first chip. They are incredibly common. When Ds's dentist looked at it, he said that he wouldn't do anything unless a) it hurt DS1 or b) he saw evidence of root damage. Rather than taking x-rays, etc., he wanted me to look out for discolouration of the teeth,. And, he said that, in many cases, the tooth that chips is not the tooth that suffers root damage, so you want to watch both front teeth.

Without seeing the damage from the recent fall, I don't what I would do about the more recent chip. In general, if I feel like I should get something checked out, I don't feel comfortable until I have gotten it checked out, even if it ends up being nothing to worry about.

[laila2]

My dd chipped her tooth

Her upper front center tooth was chipped with about 1/8 of it gone from the corner. When it fell out at 6.5 years, I kept it to remind myself. The dentist said it was fine to let it go when the event occured.

[kdtmom2be]

If the tooth is damaged enough to need repair they can often do at least some work without doing any freezing or anything. I broke off a corner of a tooth and they rebuilt it with porcelain. No freezing, didn't take long. The biggest hurdle would be to get your child to sit still long enough for them to do the repair. If it is not enough to have to rebuild it, if it is jagged they can sometimes grind it down (I also had this done on a few teeth when I was a kid) so that at least it is not causing irritation.

[CaliforniaMommy]

My DD chipped one of her front teeth when she was 17mo or so. It was a pretty good chip, so I took her to a pediatric dentist for evaluation. I recommend a pediatric dentist, as they are much more used to dealing with toddlers, and you want them to have a good experience for future visits.

The dentist pretty much told me that since she isn't in pain, the nerve isn't exposed, so it's best to leave it as-is. She could do some cosmetic work on it, but she didn't recommend it, as it would only be cosmetic, and not worth the expense or stress on my DD. she warned me that the tooth might turn yellow or grey with time, but again, that's only cosmetic. Depending on how the tooth was broken, it might also affect the permanent tooth that is growing behind the baby tooth, but only time will tell. She told me that she could end up with a little white mark on it, for example, if it bumped it somehow.

Her tooth was also sharp when it was broken, and I could even feel it when nursing, but it smoothed out on its own pretty quickly (I was happy about that myself!!)

[aikigypsy]

Definitely watch out for discoloration. DD had a chip when she was about 10 months old and another around 18 months... After the second, nursing became very uncomfortable, and about 1.5-2 months later we started noticing discoloration in both teeth, which was decay that I think took root because of the chip. I am also convinced that there was root damage to one of the teeth, but we couldn't find a dentist to look at it right away (we were in Ireland at the time, and I took her to a dentist immediately, and she said that no dentist in Ireland would look at a kid under 3-4 years old! Which turned out not to be true, and I should really have pushed to see someone sooner).

Anyhow, I would definitely look for a pediatric dentist ASAP. If they have to work on it, you might need general anaesthetic, but maybe not.