DS fell and chipped his bottom tooth in the afternoon. Refuses to eat dinner and in pain.

[firefly11]

A small corner of his bottom canine is chipped off. There is a blood spot along the gum where the tooth meets it. It really doesn't look like much but he wails and cries in pain whenever he tries to take a bite of his dinner (soft boiled rice in sauce and soft cooked spinach and peas). I think I'm gonna give him some painkiller and give him liquid foods for now. So upsetting to see.

But other than that what else should I be doing?My dentist doesn't do emergencies over the weekend and when I tried calling just now, the answerphone says to call NHS Direct for emergencies.

I'm not sure what to do now. Should I call NHS Direct? Wait until Monday to book an emergency appointment with the dentist? Go down to A&E?

Its his milk tooth by the way. He is 4.

Sorry to hear this, and didn't want to ignore.

If you son is still struggling to eat tomorrow take him to the walk in centre or get an emergency dentist to get him checked out.

Its horrible, my 4 yr son fell and damaged his front tooth when he fell and as a result the tooth died, its now slightly discoloured

Its probably heavily bruised. Treatment would be soft diet and regular analgesia. It will more than likely get better with time. However there is a tiny chance that the root is broken, in which case the pain won't get better and the tooth will be quite wobbly, in which case it would be necessary to remove it.

Thanks for your replies. I have fed him some ibuprofen. He is still unwilling to eat anything although he drank water. Hopefully it will get better.

kd73, thanks for sharing your experience. Hope your DS is okay now and he will get a good new adult tooth to replace that one when it falls out eventually.

Dd1 broke her adult front tooth when she was 9. The nerve was exposed, and it was v sensitive. The dentist put a temporary filling on it. This has needed to be replaced twice since (they fall off), and she will get a permanent repair when she is in her late teens.

Exposed nerves are very uncomfortable. I think you should call NHS direct to find the number of a dentist that is open today, or if you are near a dental hospital, then call them.