Black tooth?? My toddler fell and hit her mouth on a slide in the playground

[Bebe's Mom]

My DD fell and hit her mouth on the slide a few days ago. She split her lip and there was lots of blood so I took her to the ER. The doctor looked at her and said she was fine. Now her tooth is black at the root. Is is going to fall out? Should I take her to the dentist and have it looked at?? Or should I take her to the pediatrician? Or should I just wait and see what happens? I am thinking it could just be bruised, or worst case scenario, the root has died. Anyone have experience with this?? TIA.

[gbailey]

OP, hope your DD is feeling better. I don't have any been through that experience advice to offer but I would take her to the dentist. Hope it's nothing more than a bruise.

[Hedgehog Mtn]

This happened to my sister as a child. She fell out of the back of the (parked) truck and hit cement. Her front tooth turned black and stayed like that for a couple years until it was pushed out by the adult tooth.

[philomom]

The tooth is most likely dead. The dentist will help you decide what's to be done.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

Same thing is going on with ds.  Ped said to ask the dentist.  Dentist said "we'll keep an eye on it and see how it goes"  The options are it's dead or bruised.  If it is dead it *can* get infected and then will need to pulled, but it could be dead and be fine and then just fall out when the adult tooth comes in. 

[skybluepink02]

My little brother had this, when he leapt from the couch to the coffee table trying to fly. they turned brown, and stayed there for several years until his adult teeth filled in.

[Three~Little~Birds]

My DS banged his tooth and it turned grey.  I had read that eating a lot of organic (grass-fed) butter would help it heal.  We  figured that we had nothing to lose by trying,  We started putting it on everything.  Lo and behold his tooth turned white again!  Maybe it would have happened anyway??  Who knows.  The timing of the healing seemed to correspond with the butter, though.  I say that you should give it a shot.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

I would head to the dentist to get their opinion though they cant do anything for it if it is dead but at least when people ask you about it you can tell them "the dentist said X"

[TabithaB]

Pretty much the same thing happened to my son.  He got into a fight with the rocking chair and lost.  He hit it pretty hard and chipped his tooth.  It started turning dark a while later.  The dentist looked at it and decided to just watch it and not do anything because he didn't want to hurt my son and make him afraid of dentistry.  This happened when he was learning to walk.  The discolored tooth finally started breaking apart when he was 7 and the dentist did ultimately wind up having to pull it out, but it was when my son was older and could understand what was going on.

I agree about having a dentist take a look at it.

[dakotablue]

This happened to my grandmother in a car accident (adult tooth when she was younger) it was/is dead and they just had it capped, I don't know if it'd have to be pulled, but I don't know if leaving it would help anything either....

Good luck!

[July09Mama]

Exact same thing happened to me as a child, with a coffee table. I would say it was probably 3 or 4 years that I had a black tooth in the front, but there was no long-term damage.

[Bebe's Mom]

Thanks for your replies!! I am going to take her to the dentist as soon as I can get someone on the phone, seriously I have been on hold for almost a half hour!!

ETA : I got through finally, she has an appointment tomorrow. They are going to take an x ray.

Edited by Bebe's Mom - 11/22/10 at 6:19am

[TabithaB]

Originally Posted by TabithaB 

Pretty much the same thing happened to my son.  He got into a fight with the rocking chair and lost.  He hit it pretty hard and chipped his tooth.  It started turning dark a while later.  The dentist looked at it and decided to just watch it and not do anything because he didn't want to hurt my son and make him afraid of dentistry.  This happened when he was learning to walk.  The discolored tooth finally started breaking apart when he was 7 and the dentist did ultimately wind up having to pull it out, but it was when my son was older and could understand what was going on.

I agree about having a dentist take a look at it.

Good luck.  It is probably not as bad as it seems.  Go have it looked at.  In my case it was pretty much cosmetic up until his permanent teeth came in.  I think his permanent teeth pushing it out is what made his tooth deteriorate.  His permanent front tooth came in about 2 weeks after the dentist pulled the damaged one.

[2goingon2]

We are currently going through this with our 3 year old son.  His two front teeth are gray; one worse than the other.  The dentist said he has a "92% chance of keeping it" and we are to watch for signs of infection.  If that happens, then it may have to be pulled.  Otherwise, there is nothing that can be done and it will fall out when it's time.

[Bebe's Mom]

So, I feel kind of like I overreacted here, because it turns out DD's tooth was not black, it just had some kind of residue or something on it..But I took her to the dentist anyway and she told me that she has a tooth coming in, which I kind of figured since she was so fussy over the weekend. She also told me that her molars will start coming in just in time for the Christmas holidays, oh joy. Thanks all for your replies!!! I am going to go stock up on Ibuprofen now....