Baby teeth - fall - dead or bruised

[gardenlover2009]

Hi,
My child turned 3 in the summer, at nursery she fell over (nobody saw so not 100% on details) but fell on to a wooden box. It was significant injury, bleeding on and off for hours until the next morning, swollen lips and the gum above the top front teeth seemed to have taken the brunt of the hit. I took her to an emergency dentist that day but it was too swollen, he said come back in two weeks.

I went back yesterday and he informed me that as the teeth are slightly discoloured (pink/grey) that they are dead and will need to come out under general.
The x ray showed no signs of infection, the dentist said he couldn't feel anything under the gum to suggest infection but said the colour change says it's there and that they are definitely dead.
There are lots of reputitable websites suggesting baby teeth that go dark 'often' will go back to white months after discolouration from trauma.

My question is - is there a way for the dentist to know 100% by looking that the teeth/nerve/root is dead?
Time will tell but my dentist is adamant they are dead by looking at them and I believe he is a very good dentist but i just don't know how its possible to be so sure they are dead with no chance of them getting better by looking at them?
The X-ray was post prognosis, but also did not change the prognosis.
Thanks

I would trust the dentist over the internet no matter how reputable the websites are.
He's the one that's been to university and has experience in these things.

Sorry OP, hope your DD is okay

I would consider getting a second opinion...or ask for a community dental referral (certainly in my area it’s these dentists who do dental operations). FWIW DD fell and landed on some play equipment in the park and damaged one of her baby teeth. It went dark and I thought it might have to be removed but over time it went back to a normal colour.

I don’t know about whether or not they are dead but 2YO DD hit her front tooth and it turned pink/grey. Paediatric dentist was unconcerned as she wasn’t having any issues eating and said it wasn’t going anywhere but that if she hits it again it might fall out early. He didn’t x-ray as he said there was no point. This guy is extremely good (we didn’t seek him out, just happens to be our nearest kid’s dentist) and whilst we’re in the US he provides advisory services to the NHS so I trust him. Your dentist could well be correct, perhaps your DD’s injury is worse than mine but if I were you I’d get a second opinion before deciding.

This happened to my boy after he fell off my exercise bike and knocked his gums on the handle pole, dentist x rayed and said there was no damage to his adult teeth and his baby teeth did eventually go white again, maybe get a second opinion?

My DS hit his front tooth when he was around 2.5. It went grey and stopped growing but dentist said it would be fine to leave, and will be the first one to fall out. And low and behold, it was fine and the first one to fall out a coupe of months ago (he's now 6).
His adult tooth is growing fine with no discolouration. I would ask for a second opinion.

My Dd had a fall and now has a grey front tooth. We didn't even go to the dentist or doctor 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ Which now makes me feel a bit bad. +2yrs on and it's not caused an issue to date. She's 5 now.

Teeth often discolour after trauma.

If it is very dark grey and persistent often this means the tooth is dead or dying. However pink/light grey is often okay, you can't 100% know without testing the tooth

Either way I wouldn't jump to taking them straight out, I'd want to monitor them and would only take them out if/when signs of infection develop. At the end of the day they might not develop any infection until they are at least 5 at which point they might be wobbly and you can get them out with local, or they might be okay till they fall out.

I absolutely wouldn't refer her for a GA for extractions without signs of infection.

My son's tooth went dark grey after he had a fall. The dentist is happy to leave the tooth as long as there's no sign of infection. Hopefully it will fall out in the next few months.

DS fell and whacked his face on grandmas table when he was 2, massive cyt on gum & huge swelling, front tooth went quite dark grey & dentist advice was to leave it be. It was grey for months then started to lighten until it was barely different to his other teeth. It fell out recently & the tooth fairy now can't even tell which one it was I'd get a 2nd opinion

My dc did this too aged 3. The dentist said to leave it. It stayed grey until it fell out 3.5 years later!

This happened to my DS too. The dentist said to leave them as they weren't infected and it's better for when the adult teeth come through. They stayed grey but stayed put until they were pushed out by his new teeth.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond to me. It has been very helpful reading the responses.
I think it's just a case of hoping they don't or aren't infected so that we can leave them in place - regardless of colour. :)