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Children's health

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Original poster

Child damaged teeth nerves - experiences?

28 replies

ThinKingCaps5 · 04/08/2026 16:31

I am pretty stressed by the unknown so hopefully someone can share their experience.

DS (8) had a bad fall at school and landed on his front teeth on the concrete a month ago. Xray shows nerve fracture in both front teeth (running down vertically in the middle). Tooth appears intact.

We are under monitoring plan, at 1 month there was no change, then we will have 3, 6 and 12 months.

The dentist initially said there was a small chance it could repair itself but was much less positive at the last appointment and said root canal treatment will likely be needed as nerves will die.

What would this involve? I have a pretty anxious, hypersensitive child so I am quite worried.

She also said the nerve could suddenly die and the tooth change colour.

I feel so bad and guilty that he may end up with very unsightly front teeth until he is older and can have cosmetic treatment and it is going to make his life harder (I am prone to catastrophising) !

I found a lot of threads about children who have had a broken tooth and had it repaired, but nothing about trauma to the nerves. What will happen if the nerves die? Thank you!

OP posts:

Original poster

ThinKingCaps5 · 05/08/2026 21:06

ImpossiblePeaches · 05/08/2026 18:24

@ThinKingCaps5 I am going through this exact thing with my daughter now!
She also smashed her front two teeth in the playground at the end of term. After a couple of appointments and follow up xrays, it became clear that one would survive (needed to be capped because chipped), but in the other the root was dying due to the trauma.
She had a root canal last week (took about an hour under local anaesthetic) and was back in yesterday for her cap to be fitted.
My daughter will also need braces in the future, but the root canal tooth is unlikely to cope with the stress of the movement, without the root there to keep it anchored. So the plan is to keep the capped tooth until her jaw has finished growing, then replace it with a permanent implant. The implant will be put in nice and straight, then braces applied to bring the rest of her teeth into line with the implant.
It will likely mean braces through uni, rather than secondary school, but so be it! 🤷🏻‍♀️
Our private dentist was excellent, but they referred us to the Paediatric Community Dentist (NHS) for her root canal/cap and any subsequent follow up. This will mean that she is eligible to get all the associated follow up work, including the implant on the NHS. Plus because they specialise in children's dentistry, they were really brilliant at putting her at ease and talking to her in a way she could understand.
Hope this helps 😊

Wow sounds very similar, that is super helpful thank you! How old is your daughter if you don't mind me asking? 1 hour for the root canal treatment, so impressed she managed that!

So if it happened at the end of term, I imagine it was at the 1 month appointment they established one would survive and one wouldn't? I wonder when it will become clear for DS.

If the private dentist referred you back to NHS, I guess there might not be any need for me to go private, or would you still recommend it for a second opinion?

Super helpful to hear the plan for the braces, that makes total sense.

OP posts:

Hayfield123 · 06/08/2026 07:16

Voneska · 04/08/2026 21:06

Under no circumstances allow a ROOT CANAL they're toxic.
Also one of my children banged her tooth and it went dark but recovered. I remember thinking that teeth can be bruised.

But Root Canals are a bad choice. ....for anyone.!

Are you a dentist? If not what is your reasoning for such a statement?

Mamabear8864 · 10/08/2026 20:25

100% use the private insurance, a private root canal is a different league to nhs, but research who you go to, a private endodontist for root canal if needed is best option as if he’s only 8 some times the end of the root not fully closed and needs additional treatments (I feel as your worried to post this is what you would want as is the best - and a dentist would send his own kid to an endodontist) As it’s at the front of the mouth- most kids are quite tolerant.

are the teeth mobile?

also if dentist has said that it does sound like the do need root canal- so I would just request the xray and go private endodontist.

also if they go discoloured- they can be bleached- there are laws around this in under 18s, however in certain cases you can and also composite bonding to improve colour.

my concern for you is if the dentist isn’t proactively sorting the root canals etc and situation could worsen- yes kids are nervous etc but most are fine especially if bribed with a treat and keeping their teeth, hope all goes well xx

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