7 yo with broken lower molar

[thefirstmrsrochester]

Horrified to find ds 7 has a broken lower molar. Looks like 1/3 has broken/crumbled. No previous sign of decay and was at dentist for check at Easter.
Has anyone experience of this and what treatment can be offered.
He isn't in pain but I feel dreadfully guilty.

book a dentist appointment for first thing monday??
my cousin had this 20 years ago when we were young
if i remember dentist took what was left out. over how it happened but *thefirstmrsrochestereaster was a long time ago!

such be the firstmrsrochester easter was a long time ago.
stupid phone

Right, as a dentist, in answer to your question as to what the dentist is likely to offer as treatment....options should be

1. do nothing: monitor carefully and offer preventative advice as well as a full check up to make sure no other teeth are vulnerable. xrays should be taken.
2. make an attempt to restore the tooth: filling, crown (yes, crowns are available to children, even on baby teeth, though the ones for baby teeth are not used that often in UK general practice), then monitor carefully and offer preventative advice as well as a full check up to make sure no other teeth are vulnerable. xrays should be taken.
3. Have the tooth removed. Then monitor carefully and offer preventative advice as well as a full check up to make sure no other teeth are vulnerable. xrays should be taken.

There is quite a lot of evidence that suggests that in terms of reducing future pain experience in baby teeth, there is not much difference between leaving (+monitoring) and filling, particularly when the cavity involves the surfaces of the tooth that sits against the adjacent teeth. I personally would assess the tooth for signs of abcess formation (take xrays and look carefully) and plan to extract, hopefully before there is any tooth ache, but not before the child is able to cooperate. If the child is unable to cooperate and the extraction is urgent I would be referring for sedation or perhaps a GA. If not urgent I would be monitoring and doing prevention. GA is a whole other issue, which I won't go into now. But am happy to later if asked.

Permanent teeth respond better to filling than baby ones do, but extraction is still a good option in some circumstances. Again, happy to discuss further

The final decision will be based on the extent of the breakage, anticipation of future need for orthodontics, any special medical needs, and how cooperative your DS is able to be. It may be that he needs to referred to a specialist children's dentist (usually available eventually on the NHS through the community dental service).

That old adage that "it doesn't matter, it's only a baby tooth" is a fallacy. Firstly, it may not be a baby tooth (the first permanent molars usually erupt aged 6 and are the teeth nearest the back in most 7 year olds). Secondly, baby teeth can still cause a great deal of pain and can be pivotal in maintaining space and avoiding the need for braces. There are also a small number of us missing some of our adult teeth, and in these cases the baby teeth can be kept into adulthood. 2nd primary molars are quite commonly affected. Baby molars often are not lost till age 12 anyway.

Pheeeww! Looong one!

What a comprehensive post by sprinkles! +1 from me.

BTW Sprinkles, I got this on another post, surprised me a little as many folk appreciate a friendly (that's you, not me, I'm not friendly) dentist posting advice.

*cjbk1 Fri 02-Dec-11 17:32:32

Unless youre officially employed as a dentist on MN pls dont give advice of here grumpy im pretty sure it invalidates your GDC registration if indeed you have one*

My bolding clearly didn't work, apologies.

My dd has one - dentist recommended leaving it alone as it wasn't causing any pain.

Thanks grumpy. Do you reckon that's true about the GDC? I can't imagine all the people on MN who give advice in their professional capacities are doing so officially. Or that the GDC would care so long as what we said was correct (in a bolam test sense). It's not like we are offering diagnoses, slagging off other professionals or discouraging people from seeking RL dental attention.

No, I think in fact that we are the people the GDC would NOT prosecute as in we are indemnified registered professionals giving advice within our remit.

I think that cjbk1 has no idea what being a healthcare professional entails.

Only misconduct and negligence would endanger professional registration.

In any case OP, I hope you are happy and everything is sorted? There's nothing like worry to tire you out. Let is know how you get on.

Can I please hijack to ask the dentists on this thread (if they are still brave enough to share their knowledge) whether I should be concerned that DD is 7 and hasn't lost any milk teeth yet. She doesn't have any wobbly teeth either. I don't know if it is relevant but she is small for her age.

Oh and also, do we need to use the 2-6 toothpaste or the 7-12 toothpaste for a 7yr old with only milk teeth or does it not really matter?

what an odd thing for cjbk1 to say

somme I would say use the 7-12 paste. Actually, a 7 year old who is able to spit out reliably can use adult toothpaste, a pea- sized blob. If your child has every had any suspician of tooth decay, they should use adult tooth paste at this age. Recommendations are based on the likely ability of the child to spit out enough of the residual paste, rather than the amount of fluoride the teeth need, or at least a compromise between the two. I personally would not be overly worried about not losing any baby teeth yet, but if she is cooperative enough your dentist might be prepared to take an xray to check that everything appears to be developing normally (all the permanent teeth, usually including the wisdom teeth are normally visible at age 6). I am not sure if there is a correlation between a child's size and dental development.

Thanks. We are due to see the dentist for a check up early next year so will mention the X-ray.
On the occasions when I've put my toothpaste on the children's brushes by mistake, they didn't have any problem spitting it out!

Hi. Message for Sprinkles 77. I know this thread is quite old but desperately need some advice re; broken/chipped 1st primary molar in my 4 yr old if you are still around/willing. My son is quite a lot of pain. Went to dentist yesterday who filled it with Glass Ionomer filling. He is still in pain. I would like to pick your brain if possible! Thanks, Dawn.