broken front tooth

O no! My child broke his front tooth playing sports what do I do?

This happens very frequently and is just unavoidable for most children that like to play sports. A simple uncontrolled fall or accidental elbow is all it takes to knock out a tooth. I will give you a couple situations and guidelines to follow if it happens to you.

1st situation-

 12 year old Johnny was hit in the face with an elbow and the tooth starts bleeding and is loose and looks slightly out of place.

Key point- tooth is still attached to its socket.

What to do? Don't panic mom/dad just come right into the dentist and let us evaluate. If tooth is still attached to the socket there is a few very different possibilities for the tooth and we will help you evaluate the situation. Likely if the tooth was displaced there is a high chance the tooth will die and may need a root canal.

What will we do? The same day as the emergency we will likely numb your child and try to reposition the tooth to where it should be. We will splint a flexible wire to the teeth and adjacent teeth to make sure the tooth will stay in the position we want. The bone and gums will heal on its own as long as there isn't any major lacerations. If there is lacerations we will be glad to suture the patient.

2nd situation

5 year old Susan was pushed on accident while playing tag and hit her teeth on the floor and tooth was completely fractured.

What to do? first evaluate your child for possible concussion and go to the hospital if necessary. Once you feel its safe to come see us immediately.

What will we do? If it is completely fractured meaning past the pulp on a primary tooth (baby tooth) we will likely just remove it. By the time Susan is 5 the tooth is coming out soon anyways so it won't hurt to remove it. If you really don't want your child to be without a tooth we can make a denture for her to wear but I wouldn't recommend it since its normal for Susan to be without a tooth by then and her adult tooth will erupt soon.

Note: We will likely take an x ray if the tooth looks pushed in just to make sure the primary tooth didn't poke into the permanent tooth. For front teeth on a five year old this is not common since the front tooth likely is already missing most of its root so its easier for it to loosen.

Stay tuned for more situations and what to do!






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