4 year old knocked front tooth- wobbly

[WeMeetInFairIthilien]

Afternoon,

Sorry for AIBU, but need a quick answer. Can't find a clear answer for looking.

4yo DS has slipped on a slide, hit his face, and his front, lower tooth is really wobbly. It bled, and has a red ruing around the gum. Looks bruised on the gum below the tooth.

It was slightly wonky beforehand, but not wobbly.

We have no dentist - ours closed this summer and there are no NHS children's places for an hours drive.

What do I do?

Should I phone 111, to try to get him seen in an emergency, or wait until tomorrow morning and try phoning around local, private dentists for an emergency appointment?

Or just leave it?

Feel awful. He isn't in any particular pain, but I wouldn't have expected him to lose a tooth for about a year.

I don't believe there's anything that could be done. If it's still attached properly it will just stay wobbly. If the root has been damaged it will go grey. My sister knocked herself at a similar age and went grey then fell out at a normal age.

Thank-you

So, should I try to get an appointment, to be checked, sooner rather than later?

I know I need to sort the dentist issue, just been horrified that we can't get NHS care for the children.

My DS did this a few months ago, when I looked it up at the time it said just to only be concerned if it's broken or infected. There's no way he would have let a dentist near him (ND)

His went grey, apparently after that they either go back to white, or just fall out. His went back to white after a few weeks and was fine, just kept it really clean and watched for signs of infection. It also repositioned itself normally which I didn't expect.

Don't know if that's any help.

Thank-you

So, more a case of watch and see?

I feel so awful, he is being a pain at ignoring us currently, but I should have stopped him.

Shock, I suppose, I've had nightmares about loose teeth and knocking them out since I was a child.

Whilst in charge of grandson at that age or maybe a little older, he was racing about, fell and knocked a front tooth out. Dentist said don’t worry, baby teeth fall out and there is nothing they can or will do if it comes out early. I know that’s not exactly how it is for you but maybe that’s helpful. Adult teeth are now in and it’s all fine, no ill effects. How I felt when it happened and had to ring DD is another story!!

Yep just watch it, soft foods and try to get him not to wobble it as much as possible

My 4yo did the same about 6 weeks ago, tbh he mostly still ate the same and just avoided apples/really hard things, he still happily ate pizza! It took a few weeks to firm up again but is now fine and hasn't gone grey yet

There's nothing a dentist would be able to do, I wouldn't worry. Look out for sighs of pain but other than that it will either be fine...or it will fall out.

I would ring 111 just to be on the safe side. This happened to DS at a similar age when he was at nursery & the manager advised me to get him checked out by a dentist straight away. It’s iniquitous that you are not able to do this.

My daughter's got knocked at about 5, top baby front one. Went wobbly then grey and the dentist said it needed to be removed as they can sometimes reattach themselves but to the bone and then restrict the big one later.

She had it pulled out at the dentist with local anesthetic

111 for emergency dentist
not to scare you, but a broken upper jaw is not uncommon in children after a knock to the face.
dentist would likely recomment no tooth brushing for a week or so (use mouth wash instead) and soft food only.

all the best.

Thank you - it is his lower jaw, he sort of face planted up a slide.

He is already asleep, I will go into the local private dentist tomorrow morning when they open at 8:30, and ask to have him seen.

If it’s a baby tooth then nothing needs to be done. It may fall out early but the adult tooth will not be affected.

A dental review in the next few days would be a good idea but there’s no need for an emergency appointment tonight.

Same happened to ours, saw a dentist, they advised to teach child to chew on back teeth and avoid hard foods for 6 weeks. Slice apples to avoid biting in, remind them each meal-time to chew on back teeth, ask nursery to follow these steps too.

Tooth healed, firmed and stayed white.

There's nothing they can do so it would be a waste of money. It was just luck that we already had a check - up booked for the day after it was knocked.

DD did this at 3. Properly knocked it out though. We spoke to an emergency dentist (was during covid so even harder to see anyone) who said nothing to be done. She's nearly 7 now and not lost any other teeth and there's no suggestion of the adult one coming yet. But dentist isn't worried.

I did feel a bit sad for about half an hour but it really doesn't matter much. She'll get an adult one eventually and the gap hasn't really been than noticeable even though it's a front top one. It looks cute anyway.