Dental advice please

[Loopyloooooo]

Not sure if anyone might have experience of similar or works in dental care ...

Back in May my 11 y/o DS bit into a solid lump of hard chocolate and straight after complained one of his top incisors hurt and felt wobbly. I checked and it was definitely slightly wobbly, it's an adult tooth.

We went off to the dentist who said that sometimes in children the roots of their adult teeth have not had time to toughen up yet and that when they have a "trauma" they can go a little wobbly but that the tooth looked fine and it should all settle down in a week or two.

A couple of weeks passed and the tooth was still slightly wobbly and hurting a bit (not to hot or cold, just randomly) so we went back to the dentist. They took an x-ray, said tooth looked fine on the x-ray, advised avoiding using that tooth to eat anything hard and they would review in a month.

A week before we went back a month later for that 3rd appt DS got accidentally whacked in the mouth by his toddler sibling with a plastic toy. When we went for the appt the dentist said all top 4 adult teeth now slightly wobbly 🥴 and advised to continue softish diet and go back again in another month.

Went back today, top 4 teeth still all slightly wobbly. Dentist says this might be normal for DS (but was a little noncommittal with an answer as to whether this should be normal into adult hood or what). Dentist took another x-ray and said it doesn't look any different to the first one. DS is still having some pain with the incisor once or twice a week (but hasn't been mentioning it to me so not sure how bad it actually is? Hasn't been asking for pain killers etc). Dentist said to come back again in another month and that if it's still hurting they might need to think about a root canal..

Just wondering if a root canal seems like a reasonable course of action from a "trauma" of biting into chocolate?

Is it really normal for an 11 year old to have 4 slightly wobbly adult teeth?

Well done if you've got this far (apologies for the length, worried mum!).

I'm not a dentist, but RC sounds like a last resort because there is infection in or around the tooth.
Might be an idea to up the dental hygiene and gargle with corsodyl (wisdom or own brand will be cheaper - try Savers) or tepid salty water if not suitable for children?

Is he clenching or grinding his teeth in his sleep?
Or does he have a habit of chewing pens etc…
this can put extra stress on teeth and can cause pain, and sometimes increased mobility

Even when doing his homework he could be chewing on a pen or something with that tooth/ teeth.

Does he bite his nails?
I think you can get a mouthguard for wearing at night to prevent teethgrinding.

Thanks, he doesn't grind his teeth or chew anything and his dental hygiene is really good. Dentist hasn't mentioned anything about infection etc.

It is so difficult to leave a wobbly tooth alone, and it's very annoying.
I think you might need to see a periodontist or something.

Beware of advice on here - I (or another poster) could say I was an orthodontist or something when I'm not.

I had root canal treatment as a kid because of abcesses, and the teeth were replaced by implants (not cheap, we're talking thousands) as an adult.

Biting into something like a cold bar of chocolate can seriously damage teeth. It can break crowns.

Could you try for a referral to a dental clinic at the local hospital?

@Loopyloooooo as @Littlemissprosecco said my first though was a grinding or clenching habit. It can make teeth feel loose and sore. If hes grinding/clenching in his sleep its not something that you or he would always know.

Are his roots a normal length? Has he had braces?

I’d want a second opinion OP.

I am a dentist (I know you’ve no way of checking!) but I have seen all sorts of weird and wonderful damage caused to teeth by many things, if he bit at a just the right angle/bit of the tooth it could make it go slightly mobile. The hit with the plastic toy could also cause it. I definitely would not be rushing in with root treatment on the basis of what you have posted. Root treatments are needed when the nerve of the tooth dies to clean out the dead nerve/blood vessels and bacteria that if left can cause an abscess. To start root treatment you want a reason why the nerve might be dead, decay, previous filling or trauma. Then either a history of severe pain, keeping patient awake (proper toothache) that’s worse on hot and pain killers doesn’t help much, a sign of infection clinically like a swelling or chronic sinus or evidence on a radiograph that there is infection round the root.

There are a few other things that can be used to assess but that’s a very brief overview though.

It sounds like your dentist is doing the right thing by reviewing in another month, if it stays the same as it is I would ask to be referred to a dental hospital for a paediatric opinion. Fingers crossed it gets better but if it gets worse it will become apparent it really needs root treatment.

Hopefully it will settle though

Thank you everyone, really helpful..I'm going to ask for a second opinion from another dentist at our practice and go from there.

Thanks so much @Oinkypig that's really helpful and I really appreciate it, that was pretty much what I was thinking re not rushing into root canal. It's difficult to assess how bad DS's pain actually is as in typical 11 year old fashion he's not the best at articulating what's going on inside his head 🙈 but never wakes up in the night complaining of pain, hasn't been asking for pain killers altho admittedly hasn't been using those top 4 teeth to bite into anything for while.

Fingers crossed it will settle down but in the meantime I will ask for a second opinion from another dentist at the practice (just to put my mind at rest if nothing else!) And then will ask for a referral to a dental hospital if it's still a problem in a few weeks.

Nothing has ever been said about his roots being an abnormal length and he hasn't had braces (yet, will need them in the future).

It's interesting about the grinding and not something I had considered but I'll start looking out for it. Would a mouth guard on a night or something similar help?

A night guard will only help if grinding or clenching is what’s causing the problem. But it can’t hurt, and sometimes it can be a process of diagnosis by elimination.