Mouth injury. WWYD?

[fluffacloud]

DD1 (2.9) has fallen off a slide today. I wasn't there but MIL said that there was lots of blood and they thought that she had just caught her bottom lip on her tooth.

It's now a few hours later and she's not complained of being in any pain but when I cleaned her teeth I noticed that the skin between her lip and gum is torn and that the gum around her four front teeth is black. Her lip is also now swollen.

DP doesn't think that a trip to the doctors/dentist is needed but I disagree. Although, I'm not sure that there's much that they could do.

I don't want to be seen to be creating a fuss as poor MIL feels awful as it is!

TIA

[Ruthchan]

If the teeth appear to be in their normal positions, not pushed in, and not at all wobbly, you don't need to worry too much.
Damage to the gum is temporary and will heal surprisingly quickly.
To help the gums heal even faster, you can wash them with a solution of table salt in warm water.
She won't like the taste very much, but it goes as soon as the wash has finished.

If you're worried, call your dentist and discuss it with them.

[Tuttutitlookslikerain]

I agree with Ruth.

It's probably bruising around the gum line. I would have thought she would have protested loudly, when you cleaned her teeth, if it had hurt her.

See how she is in the morning and if you are still worried, contact your dentist.

[DontstepontheMomeRaths]

I'd do the same as Ruth. If the teeth aren't wobbly and are in their normal positions, it should be fine.

My son went through a faze of landing face first on his mouth a number of times at that age. He actually chipped a tooth in the end. The dentist did look at that but it was fine.

[Ponders]

My DD was standing on a ride-on toy when she was about this age & fell on her face on a concrete floor. She had a lot of blood, swollen gums & a fat lip as you describe; also there was a triangular cut in her bottom lip.

Our neighbour at the time was a nurse, so I asked her what to do, & she said there was no point going to eg A&E or a dentist as there really wasn't anything they could do about it.

Certainly it all subsided at the time with no further damage evident, except that every time she fell over for a couple of years (& she always seemed to fall on her face) the bottom lip cut re-opened.

She is grown-up now with lovely teeth & just an almost invisible scar on her lip

[Ponders]

X post MomeRaths!

(your DS isn't Aries by any chance...?)

[LeBoob]

I fell over when I was 18 months old and banged my front teeth, it knocked the nerves in the tooth and it went black. Not only that it affected my adult tooth as well and it started to grow through my nose! They had to remove the bone above my teeth to let the adult tooth move down. Then I had 6 years of braces. True story

I'd get it checked just so you know!

[DontstepontheMomeRaths]

Errr I don't know what star sign he is. I don't read them But I just looked up Aries and no he's not an Aries.

[Ponders]

oh, ok - I have an over-supply of Aries kids & they were all always falling on their heads (but I do realise that most kids do it )

[fluffacloud]

Thank you all for the replies.

I've just been into her room for what feels like the hundreth time tonight and there's blood all over her sheets and face, it gave me quite a nasty shock!

Dentist first thing I think.

Ps Ponders she's a scorpio and is always falling over

[DontstepontheMomeRaths]

I can never get over how much mouths bleed. She may need a stitch or two. Wouldn't children's a & e be better?

[Ruthchan]

Did you take her to the dentist?
What did they say?

[fluffacloud]

We've just got home from the dentist. She said that breaking the skin tag between gum and lip is very common, especially in young children.

Her front tooth, which is already chipped from a previous fall, is fractured slightly and it's a little loose.

Soft diet for a week and calpol when needed. The tooth should tighten up on it's own.

TBH the dentist was more concerned with the fact that she still has dummy at night

[DontstepontheMomeRaths]

My DD had the dummy fairy when she turned age 3. Was a nightmare though. She cried for a week after for it

Glad she's ok though and it's nothing major.

[fluffacloud]

Oh, don't say that!

I've been holding off until DD2 (6mo) starts sleeping through, but I'm fairly confident that its NEVER going to happen and she'll be demanding boob twice a night until she leaves for University