My baby has bashed his cute face into the table

[User24689]

Hi all. Posted in health but no replies and I'm stressing. My 10 month old had an accident this morning - he was cruising around our wooden coffee table and lost his footing, then bumped his mouth on the edge of the table. His top front teeth are just coming through, one almost cutting, the other almost completely through. There was a LOT of blood and at first it was hard to tell what exactly he had done, I was terrified he had broken his teeth but they all look fine. However, he has split the piece of skin attaching his lip to his teeth (he has - or had?!? a lip tie that we had left as it caused no issues) the top lip is now swollen and I have just noticed dark bruising forming above the line of the teeth. He seems totally fine now, doesn't appear to be bothered. Thankfully still feeding ok. Anyone had a similar injury in a child? Should I take him to GP or dentist to get checked or will they think I'm a time waster? I'm really worried he could have damaged the teeth coming through and ruined his beautiful smile

Babies are fairly resilient and they seem to bounce far better than adults, it sounds like he has torn his frenulum? It should heal on it's own but if you are worried about his teeth I would give a dentist a call in the morning to see what they say. I doubt very much that he has done lasting damage but the only person who can rule that out is a dentist.

I don't think they would think you were a time waster at all. Babies can't tell us if anything else hurts. Take him along just to double check all is well.

Yes but at about 5 when DD fell face down when swinging off a metal railing and smashed both of her front teeth in. Black eyes, bleeding teeth and gums, split lip. Went to the dentist the next day, he said nothing could be done about the teeth. They did reset themselves but had a grey tinge to them until they fell out anyway, so presumably the nerves were damaged. Baby teeth fortunately.

I don't think there will be anything a dentist can do other than probably reassure you. Hopefully your DSs teeth are better protected as they are still in the gum.

DD's Adult teeth are lovely BTW so no long term damage.

I don't think there's any harm in having him looked at, in my experience health care professionals are always happy to see wee ones.
Saying that I think he's most likely fine, I'd probably give some Brufen for pain and swelling and maybe even make my own fruit ice lolly for him to suck on. Mushed banana and strawberries freeze pretty well.

My first son did exactly this at the same age. I totally freaked out because of the amount of blood and rang DH at work panicking (he is a trained first aider) but he said that mouth/head injuries often look a lot worse as they bleed so much and see how it went over the day. I just left it and kept a close watch on it in case of infection etc but actually it healed really fast with no lasting damage to his mouth or teeth. If you're worried though take him to GP they never mind seeing little ones.

If he seems fine I wouldn’t take him, there’s nothing they can do.

It’s luck of the draw whether these things cause issues later on.

I have a son the same age. If that happened to him I'd probably take him to the GP just to get checked out.

My oldest daughter bashed her head so hard on a sharp table corner I thought she'd fractured her skull at the same age. She screamed and screamed. It was 6 years ago and I remember it vividly. She was absolutely fine

Oh thank you all. I really hope it wasn't enough to discolour the teeth but I guess only time will tell. It wasn't like he fell from a height, just threw his head forward into it so hopefully not so much force. Yes definitely split frenulum but I figure that will heal. Done cold compress and Nurofen, he's eating and breastfeeding normally. I'll see how he looks in morning (I'm in Australia he's in bed now) but I feel reassured that a trip to the doctor isn't silly if it still looks sore in the morning .