Any Dentists- is this urgent?

[Teethhelpplease]

My child has overcrowding at the side of their mouth. For some reason her baby teeth cling on for dear life and she absolutely can not cope with wobbling them. She even avoids brushing properly the area around her wobbly teeth.

We see her dentist regularly and very recently saw an orthodontist who all said the teeth will come out when they come out and not to worry about it.

Last night she came to me and said one of the loose baby teeth had changed position and was a bit sore. I thought maybe it would come out today. But she has come home from school and it looks like the gum under the fragment has swollen and gone black. Obviously not ideal being Friday. Is this something that needs an emergency dental appointment.

Yikes. I’m not a dentist but yes I think I’d try and get seen in case it’s infected.

Me too! I would try and see someone ASAP as that looks quite nasty. As someone who's just had a gum infection you need to see someone sooner rather than later.

Is that definitely her gum, or could the baby tooth be dead and held in place by the adult tooth?

Yes I would try and get seen. Looks sore. How old is your child?

The black bit is the inside of the baby tooth and pulp where it has resorbed. It's just hanging on by a thread. Put some bonjela on and pull or get her to bite an apple several times and try again. It's not infected. However the plaque on the surrounding teeth is a concern and needs to be brushed off asap. It sounds like a bit of tough love is needed. Reward?

Thanks for the advice. Yes she has no blackness except on the inside of that tooth fragment so makes sense that it's pulp. The plaque is a concern. The three main areas of plaque build up are on wobbly baby teeth and fragments that she has been avoiding brushing. When I saw it tonight I sent her straight in to brush properly. I've begged her to let me pull it out, I'm absolutely not above bribery and offered her 50 quid!!! But she was a mess...she's not actually scared of going to the dentist but has a phobia of her teeth coming out...which is why there are so many little fragments in there.

Don't pull it out, it will fall out in its own. If it hangs on for a long while, make her an appointment with the dentist where they can numb it and remove it. My DC1 had a baby molar that was coming out but split in two. The pulp was still very much alive in their case (and was bright red), so a dentist removed the remainder. Your DC's looks like it's dying off and will sort itself out.

So, I didn't want to distress her so we left the tooth. We were watching a film earlier today and I have her an apple to munch and low and behold it came out. She was absolutely fine. It's so strange. I try to remind her that she is always fine once her tooth comes out but she is always terrified of it happening. Anyway the whole black lump and tooth fragment all came away and after brushing her teeth actually look great. Thanks everyone.

Hi,
The tooth is exfoliated amd you’re seeing the blood underneath . It can be pulled out now with even topical numbing gel . If it hasn’t fallen yet please contact Emergency dentist.