Anyone claim to be a dentist? My kid just got hurt....

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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:29 pm

I am so upset. My kid is FINE and he doesn't care - - but I DO! He fell down and he's broken the corner of one of his front teeth. It's a big chunk out of the tooth! at least like 1/5 of the tooth is gone! He wanted to go back out and play - and I'm sitting here about to die. That's FOREVER.

A neighbor said that it will have to be pulled or it will get infected.

So I called my mom who just said the same thing - said a friend of ours did it when he was little and had to have a false front tooth made.

Please tell me these are horror stories and that in today's day and time a dentist somewhere can attach a piece to it and he can keep the broken tooth?

(And let me guess - my INSURANCE DOES NOT COVER THIS - right? That's probably going to be the case.)

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:38 pm

Dentistry has many options these days. The main thing is to take him to the dentist to make sure there hasn't been any major damage to the root. The dentist will talk options with you and you may be surprised that since this was an accident it may be covered by insurance.

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:39 pm

I've just asked my mum who's a retired dentist. Get to a dentist asap as time is important. If the nerve is exposed then he would be in a fair bit of pain so that is unlikely. The dentist should build up a new edge before crowning it but it is unlikely the whole tooth would have to be removed if you don't leave it too long.
I'm assuming it's a second tooth and not a baby one. Apparently there is not much point in doing repair work on a milk tooth that will eventually fall out anyway. Dunno about insurance as I'm in the UK.

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:46 pm

Without checking the tooth and seeing the extent of the damage, I doubt that anyone, even a dentist, is going to be able to give you a definitive answer. The best source of dental advice is going to be a professional, not the internet, surely? Especially if you're this worried about it. As for the insurance, presumably you have a document that sets out the terms?

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:00 pm

^^^^ Yes, eight. They are all closed today, though - since it's memorial day. I just hate waiting until tomorrow.

We JUST got a NEW insurance, so I'm not sure about everything that's covered - they haven't even sent me the manual for what's covered in dental yet - only a card that says he has dental insurance. UGH!

But at least he NOW has insurance - it could be worse if he didn't.

Master Baiter Joined: 05 May 2008 Posts: 104

I seem to remember a friend having something attached to his tooth when he chipped it. Unless i'm mistaken, we were also more concerned with playing at the time...

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:04 pm

A cap, a crown, a false tooth - it doesn't really make much difference.

I lost 3 front teeth on the Rugby field when I was a kid. I have a bridge up top and a crown on the bottom. I got used to it real quick and nobody who looks at me would ever guess they're not my own teeth.

For a girl, it would maybe be a lot worse. But for guys? It's nothing.

The only downer was that losing them young meant I had to go back to get them changed as I grew up.

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:11 pm

There will be some kind of emergency cover available, if you're worried, won't there? I just did a quick Google and there appear to be services available, and Yellowpages.com has listings for emergency dental care. I hope this helps.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 720

On a lighter note you can move to England where having nice teeth isn’t
a bar to social acceptability

Chuck Norris Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 1369

My brother had something similar happen to him back in the day. Going back to the 1990s when he was in high school and on the basketball team. Anyway, he tripped and landed face first on the court, embedding his two front teeth into the floor. About half of the teeth chipped off and broke, next thing I know, he's got a cup of milk with pieces of his front teeth in them, and goes to the dentist for a visit. He ended up getting some resin epoxy thing on them since he chipped it pretty well down.

Having it get infected and having to have it pulled? That's a bit of scaremongering there and *probably* not necessary. All I can do is echo the excellent advice of "get in contact with your dentist." As Eight indicated, the ONLY person who will know for a fact what to do is a trained professional who has the opportunity to examine the tooth.

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 9:26 pm

@Eliza - the best thing to do is seek out emergency help for today and schedule an appointment with your son's regular dentist. We can't advise you medically on what to do; only a professional care provider can do that.

Insurance matters are between you, the dentist and the insurance company. We can't advise you on that matter either.

After your son has been examined, please let us know what the dentist said. Very Happy

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

If he's not in pain that would imply the nerve isn't exposed.
If its a baby tooth it'll fall out eventually.
If not the dentist may try to "fill in " the tooth, or cap it slightly, not always successful.
My son has a chipped front tooth, , accident when he was still primary school age, our dentist advised waiting until he was older before going for a crown.
He's not had an infection in it all these years and its not discoloured

Has your youngster asked for partial payment from the tooth fairy?

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 10:32 pm

Well, after making many phone calls -- no one answering - - I called a regular nurse's hotline (that is on my son's medical insurance card - not dental) The nurse says to make sure the cracked part of the other tooth doesn't fall off while he's sleeping (ok so scare me even more) Anyway - it looks like Thursday will be the day we can actually speak with the dentist my son has used in the past.I left a message on their after hours # to ask them to call me. The (non dental) nurse said that as long as he's acting fine, she thinks we can wait to see the dentist.

KIDS!!!! Why don't they enjoy something like knitting???? That's "fun" right? and it's harmless!

Edit - Well, I FINALLY got to speak with a dentist. He said to not wait to Thursday - bring him in tomorrow. So, we will be going tomorrow afterall.

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 10:37 pm

Well at least the crisis is over. You can get him treated and all will be well. Kids are tough. Smile

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 10:44 pm

My lower front tooth has been 'chipped' for over five years. Had a 'filling/build up' on it twice and it snapped off both times. Never had an infection or anything. So, as long as it is solid and the root isn't exposed, you should be ok. But DO get a dentist to look at it as soon as they can. Wink

My tooth broke on a chocolate chip cookie! Wink

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 10:53 pm

@ Eliza. Is it an adult tooth or a baby tooth? If the former there's all kinds of clever things they can do these days. If the latter, don't waste your money patching up a tooth that's going to fall out anyway. It may not look 'purty' but your son will look 'hard' and other kids will be in awe.

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 11:09 pm

I had something similar happen to my daughter a couple years ago. Of course, things like this always happen on the weekend. Confused

For future consideration, you could always head to the ER where the larger ones usually have a dental specialist on call.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 3:48 am

It's a permanent tooth.

We will be hopefully getting a dentist nearby. If not, a friend's husband said he knows one of the oral surgeons at Mt. Sinai and promises that we can get in there tomorrow if we can't get someone in our immediate neighborhood.

I'll tell you what they do after we get back tomorrow.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 4:27 am

Get it out, it's the best thing you can do. Especially if the root is exposed.
Toothache is the worst pain ever (except during childbirth maybe, but I can't tell for obvious reasons) and you don't want your kid to go through this.

I once had a broken tooth and ran around with it for over a year. Until one day it was terribly painful and had the dentist remove it.

If a tooth is broken it is no use to keep it in. Chewing with it will only make you feel uncomfortable and increase the risk of infection. And from time to time even taking a deep breath can be quite painful too.

Take this from somebody who's experienced this kind of crap first hand.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 5:55 am

knitting isnt fun, if it were they would all wana do it.
I do hope the dentist can fix it with a cap or somthing. by your coments he didn't seem to be in any pain so i wouldn't go completely histerical. if it starts to hurt, and asprin and oragell wont ease the pain, you can try white vinager. use like mouthwash. tasteslike crap, but fixes a tooth ach on weekend. get well soon

Trophy Videos · Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 2:39 pm

Good luck at the dentist, Eliza. The kid will be okay. Chipped teeth, scars, broken bones are like trophies to males. He'll brag to all his friends about it, and about how cool it is. He survived an accident. It's a better attitude than worrying about his looks, so you won't have to deal with any insecurities he might have had. I'm sure it hurt somewhat when it happened, and he will probably not do that "dumb thing" whatever it was again. Unless it was on a skateboard...those guys can be quite crazy.
Relax, Eliza. He will be fine.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 4:12 pm

@rootuser. Depends upon how deep the break is. I'm not kidding, my front lower tooth has had the top cracked off for years and it has been just fine. I keep a close eye on it in case it does turn bad, but it would be more expensive and take more care to have it yanked right now then leaving it in. Not to mention, my wedding photos would have been REAL cute with a missing tooth! Razz

We just had the dentist cap it a bit before and my teeth looked perfect ... course, the cap snapped off roughly a month later and I've not bothered replacing it since.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 4:41 pm

Daughter tripped & hit a concrete step face first while we were waiting for a flight home from hols when she was 11 (she's 21 now - crap, that makes me feel old again).

She had a temporary cap fitted when we got home. Eventually they removed the nerve before she had a brace fitted & then fitted a permanent cap after the brace was removed. She had the cap replaced a couple of months ago when it became discoloured.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 5:16 pm

Finding a dentist who would see us this morning was tough, but we found someone only 14 blocks away. The guy put something that looked kind of like a pencil eraser on the tooth - attached it - did a lot of grinding and bonding the thing to his tooth. Then he used something to color the piece the same color as the tooth. He looks so much better now.

We go back next Wednesday for a root canal on a different tooth - I had no idea that the filling on it is about to fall out.

So, it wasn't so bad. People just freaked me out yesterday with all the really bad stories. You guys at least made me feel better by telling me it was going to be ok. Thanks!!

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 5:21 pm

Hehehe! See? No biggy! Sounds a lot like what happened to mine. Wink

Just keep an eye on it, and if that one falls off, it's not a big deal. A dentist can fit on another one. I've had two on the same tooth, just decided to leave it this time since it was mostly cosmetic. Unless there is pain or discoloration he should be just fine.

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