Dd 8 broke front tooth last night. Advice on long term aftercare, so upset

[Pastasau]

Last night dd & her sister were playing & she fell & broke her front tooth. We luckily got her a dentist appointment & the dentist filled it with a composite filling. The nerve luckily hadn't been damaged.
As someone who's been so self conscious of my teeth over the years I want to make sure we really mind her tooth & try & prevent staining. My teeth are awful & it's affected my confidence so badly over the years. Dds front teeth are very prominent when she speaks so I'm just wondering what foods to avoid going forward etc... Thanks so much

Oh hi, firstly for you both as this is a shock.

Both me and DH had childhood front tooth trauma, he has had no issues, I have had lots of issues - so I think you unfortunately need to accept you can't predict/control how it will go. However the lack of nerve damage is positive.

I wouldn't avoid foods really unless advised by the dentist, the composite shouldn't stain?

Dentistry has improved so so much and your daughter doesn't need to have appearance problems going forwards. If it was me I would maybe make I had her registered with a good dentist so if issues do develop, you can confidently ask for help.

I have no dental.knowledge, just experience of front teeth problems!!

There is nothing you need to do at the moment, simply keep an eye on the colour of the tooth and back to your dentist if there is any change in it or the tooth starts to be temperature sensitive. Try to get he to avoid chewing on pens and holding things in her teeth and it is possible to prise a filling off
Is her overjet severe enough that you've discussed early orthodontics? She is coming up to the age where functional appliances are effective if it's appropriate for her.

Did the same to both my front teeth at age 9. Had veneers put on age 15, another set at 21 and those replaced for really excellent crowns at 35. I would say that dentistry is excellent now abs she'll have no problems aesthetically.

Front tooth broken at 8 years old. Had to be redone at 12, 18, 25 and carry on unchanged.

I’m assuming that at 8 she doesn’t use tobacco, tea or coffee, or corsodyl mouthwash - but all of those stain (and might stain the enamel more than the filling over a long period).

I had a composite filling to fill a gap between front teeth more than 20 years ago, you would never be able to tell and even I can't see which bit is natural tooth and which isn't.

DD did this age 7, both front teeth, I was in total shock and she was so strong through it all. Composite, then one needed a root canal 18 months after as the tooth had died. She’s got an overbite, so was on block braces age 12 and has just had them removed and now has train tracks.
She’s currently hating her teeth, but knows that she’ll get them looking brand new once her braces are off totally.
It hasn’t been easy, but she’s persevered over the slow process.
I feel for you, it’s such a shock, especially with adult teeth. But it will get better and it will be fine x

retired dentist here

don't use teeth to open anything at all (most kids do) not bottle tops not packets not sellotape, hair grips etc the cross stress can dislodge the filling far more so than eating toast etc, if it's more than 24 hours since filling she can eat as normal
occasionally a fractured tooth can discolour ( mostly towards grey) this tends to be if nerve damaged so in this case unlikely but not impossible, white fillings are really good now and should last and match really well when I first trained they came in two shades light and dark and matched practically nothing
the only food i would encourage her to avoid are those that stain badly like the ones that turn your tongue blue, ones that momentarily stain like tomato sauce are nothing to worry about

if it makes you feel any better about 1 in 12 children have trauma to front teeth, and though you feel bad for her, it is at the milder end of trauma to teeth

I cracked my front tooth in a pretty much identical way when I was 10. The dentist put at "temporary" cap on it and told me that I would probably have to have it crowned when I was older. 30 years on it's still there. You can tell if you look closely and if I run my finger down the front of my tooth I can feel a very slight ridge, but other than that you can't tell at all. I don't know what the dentist stuck it on with, but it must have been pretty hefty stuff!! Noone has ever noticed its there unless I point it out and even then they can't really see it.

DS did similar about 6 years ago (break virtually identical to your DD) and had a composite filling.

You can't tell at all. The tooth looks normal.

He hasn't avoided any foods and aside from not opening things with his teeth doesn't think about it at all.

Honestly the technology is so good (and much better than the veneers they used to do) I really wouldn't fret about it and importantly make sure your DD doesn't become fixated about it.

There's really nothing you need to do than instill good dental hygiene routines - something we should do anyway.

My son broke his from tooth at around the same age. Repaired with a composite filling. He had braces and they warned it could tie but it's still going strong and he's in his 20s now. The composite dies drain but it's easily cleaned by a dentist so she just needs to continue with regular appts.