Help - Dental Accident -- Any Dentists/Doctors or Others with Advice

[jenmcadams]

So, on Friday, I got the call from my DDs daycare/preschool that everyone dreads getting. They said that Abbie had been on a walk with her class (her daycare/preschool is housed on a college campus) and was playing on some metal bars (they're indoors and low and the kids frequently use them as monkey bars) and she hit her mouth hard and it was bleeding. The teeth weren't loose, but it had bled heavily. My DH was closer than me, so he went to pick her up. She was fine when he picked her up...her mouth was swollen, but the teeth didn't appear loose and the bleeding was along the gumline (no cut to the lip or anything). We got her home and called our pediatric dentist. The office was closed, but she answered her cell phone right away. She said unfortunately it's a very common injury, but probably wasn't serious. She told me what to look for in terms of problems (e.g. developing an abcess or other problems) and told me to call the office on Monday. She also said that even if my DD did ultimately lose one or both front teeth (where the injury seems to have occured), at her age (4 1/2), they probably would just wait for her adult teeth to come in.

As the swelling has gone down, we've gotten a much better view of her injury and the two front teeth have actually been pushed back significantly (one further back than the other). They still don't appear to be loose, but the gum area is pretty black and blue and in general just doesn't look great. There's no sign of an abcess and while she still has pain if she bites into food using her front teeth, the teeth don't throb/ache any more unless she tries to chew with them or unless she inadvertently knocks them against the bottom teeth. I'll definitely be calling our pediatric dentist in the morning, but wondered if anyone has any experience with anything like this. It's so scary to see her smile changed so much and I'm worried that the teeth are still so sore when she tries to use them. I'm hopeful that the teeth won't fall out, but I'm worried about their placement and how that will affect how her permanent teeth will come in. I wonder if they would want to do any type of orthodontic correction to the baby teeth so that the permanent teeth don't come in recessed like that.

Anyways, I'm sorry for the super long post -- just was hoping to see if anyone has any experience with something like this. Between my DD breaking her leg by jumping off a play structure at 20 months, multiple scars from run-ins with counter tops and other playground equipment and now this, I'm definitely scared about what's ahead for us in elementary school :)

[ribbit1019]

I have no advice, my experience is with adult teeth which had to be corrected with braces. But poor Abbie! :( Giant hugs to her and you!

Christy
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[momto2boys]

Jen:

I wouldn't worry too much although I know that will be difficult. Connor, my oldest DS, fell on his face at 2 1/2 as he was getting off of a Bobcat in our neighborhood. DH and I thought he had only split his lip but, once the swelling went down after a couple of days, I noticed that both his top and bottom front teeth had moved from the impact. I discovered this late in the afternoon on a Friday before a long Fourth of July holiday. I immediately began calling dentists and finally reached the receptionist at a local pediatric dental office. The dentist on-call called me and had me describe the injury. She didn't seem overly concerned as this is a fairly common childhood injury. She assured me that everything was probably fine but suggested I bring Connor in the next week to evaluate the injury and x-ray his teeth to ensure he didn't damage his adult teeth. During the exam, she found that he had torn his frenum (the piece of skin that holds the top lip to the gums) as well as shifted his top and bottom teeth. Thankfully, the x-rays showed that his adult teeth were unharmed. Lastly, she warned that his top front teeth were probably "dead" and not to be alarmed if they turned grey. This was more of a cosmetic issue than anything according to her. I expected them to be 'ugly' looking when they turned but they aren't bad at all. The color change is so subtle that most people can't tell anything is wrong. Connor is still careful when biting into things such as corn-on-the-cob but doesn't seem to have any other long-lasting problems. I feel bad to this day about this accident because my mommy intuition told me something was going to happen but I ignored it.

I would suggest taking Abbie in for an evaluation and x-rays to ease your mind.

HTH,

Kathy

DS 1 - 12/01
DS 2 - 11/03
DS 3 - 06/06

PS - DH's youngest sistere knocked her top two front teeth out when she hit the edge of the coffee table when she was about Abbie's age and MIL just "put them back in". Her baby teeth did die as a result of the injury but her adult teeth were unharmed as evidenced by the beautiful smile she has now.

[bubbaray]

This happened to my DD#1 a few months ago. One lower tooth was loose for a while and moved back. A couple other lower teeth were loose but in their original position. Now, the one tooth that moved you really wouldn't notice it was out of alignment, it is almost back where it was originally. She said here teeth were sore for about a week, I would give Tylenol before dinner (her least favorite meal at the best of times) and served her softer food that week (nothing hard to eat). She had about 6m prior to that fallen on a tree root while we were out on a local trail and hit her top front tooth, but that one didn't move or appear loose.

I called the pediatric dentist on call when it happened (why do such things always happen when the office is closed??) and he said the same as yours. We saw the dentist a week later at his recommendation and given "wait and see" instructions. She goes at the end of this month for a 6m exam and I'm curious what he says then.

I'd say don't worry, but its next to impossible not to, KWIM? I still pay extra attention to those teeth and its been about 5m since it happened.


Good luck!

Melissa

DD#1: 04/2004

DD#2: 01/2007

[kochh2]

the only experience i have with this is that my brother actually pulled one of his adult teeth out in elementary school, well, he didn't but he was holding a walkie talkie antenna in his mouth to cros smonkey bars, and it pulled one tooth out... after braces to hold them together, a few root canals, etc... he now has a prosthetic tooth, but went through so much... a few thigns i took away from the memory of it ( we were both really young, i just have a few poignant memories!) were that if you ever have a tooth injury and lose the tooth, pack it in milk right away, don't try to reinsert it! also, don't carry things in your mouth LOL!! FWIW< you could give her arnica to help reduce the trauma... it works very well for dental injury!! i always take it before going to the dentist, and almost never have pain or bleeding anymore!!
:) hugs for your girl... I hope she feels better.... Ditto what PP said abotu soft foods... better safe than sorry!! my brother's tooth did turn gray and was dead... but like i said, his was an adult tooth, so at least you don't have that to worry about as much!!
hth!

[jenmcadams]

Thanks everybody for the information/stories/well wishes -- they are much appreciated :)

The office opens at 9AM, so I'll be on the phone with them first thing and hope to get her in today.

Thanks again,

[emilyf]

DS had a similar accident last summer, he fell down some stairs and hit his teeth on the sidewalk. It was terrible looking (much worse than what you describe) and we rushed him to the dentist. I was sure at least one of his teeth would need to be removed, it was way out of alignment. The dentist took an x-ray and did find some slight root damage to one of the teeth (but nothing that would affect adult teeth) and told me it would heal on its own, and the tooth would probably not fall out but might turn dark. Well, amazingly his teeth look almost perfect now. One tooth is very slightly pushed back but you have to really look to tell, they didn't darken at all. He had another x-ray recently and the dentist said he might loose a tooth if he suffered another injury, but no big deal at this age. DS had a broken leg at 14 mos too, sounds like we have similarly accident prone kids!
Emily mom of Charlie born 11/02 and Zoe born 9/05