Advice please! Has anyone's DC (toddler) managed to snap off/break their front teeth? I would like some reassurance my child is not alone and what this means for him!?

[LadyOfTheFlowers]

This afternoon Ds1's teeth connected with a tiled floor.
No bleeding, no split lip, just a mouth full of teeth 'crumbs'. They shattered from halfway down.
He has the top halves of them, still securely bedded in his gum.
No real crying but he went into shock and promptly went to sleep.
NHS helpline advised me to call dentist tomorrow as he appears to be in no pain or bothered by it.
My questions are:
Do they file them smooth as NHS woman suggested then seal the bottoms of the teeth?
Will sweet foods etc cause pain?
Will they sedate him if they decide to do anything? (DS is scared stiff of hosps after his recent visit to A&E to have a cut foot sorted out)
Does an injury to the milk teeth 'jar' the teeth behind?

He is not using the front teeth at all as he sort of recoils a bit if he tries. He can't continue like this can he till they fall out?

He is 2.4.

Many thanks!

(DH is beating himself up as he was 'rough-housing' with him when it happened. I was watching - totally no-one's fault.)

Anyone, please?

Hi LOTF,my nephew,when age 3 fell over and mangled his 2 front teeth.IIRC one came out and the other had to be taken out cos it was split and chipped (is now 4.5 with a loverly gap still waiting for adult teeth.)It doesn't bother him and I think the tooth fairy was pretty generous given the circumstances.

In terms of ds I would probably get him to see a dentist and ask advice from them.Bless him.

Both of mine have chipped their front teeth! DD slipped and hit hers on the wash basin when she was around 20 months old it's only a small chip in one tooth but she was fine after the initial blood and not opening her mouth until the next day!
Ds also chipped the same front tooth as dd by somehow biting something on the fireguard getting himself stuck and when I pulled him off his tooth chipped. He was also fine after a while and no treatment needed and at least now they both match!

Ring the dentist for advice because they may want to check if it's split right the way up/down.

Thanks!
I am not sure what they will do as the top halves are still in and not split or anything....
A bit worried tbh!

Hi LOTF,
they may leave them in and wait and see.
This happened to my ds, eventually the rest of the tooth discoloured and died. The dentist then removed it, luckily it came out easily. His second tooth took a long while to come through but is now through and fine.

Milk teeth are quick weak so this isn't uncommon. Make appointment with dentist. If enough tooth is left and they are not going to cause probs and are not lose, dentist will probably leave them in.

If they or the roots are damaged, he may take them out.

Don't panic.

I am not worried about him at the mo, as such, just how they will go about it if they decide to take them out.
I am asuming they will sedate him?

One is broken so you can see the inside of it, the other is chipped on the corner.

Two of my friends have DCs with chipped teeth. Neither of them had any problems with them.

You should definately get DS seen by a dentist. If he is lucky then there will not be any damage to the roots. If there is, the tooth may have to come out. They might do an xray. They will only file the teeth if they are sharp edges.

The children I know did not have any pain once the initial shock had worn off and certainly no pain when eating sweet food.

Hope he copes ok with the dentist.

My ds chipped his front tooth on his potty a few months ago...phoned our emergency dentist at the hospital and the lady over the phone told me they would file it down...I was petrified! The dentist was lovely though...and no he didnt file it!! He just put some filler (you know the stuff they stuff your cavities with!) to make it smooth as it was quite a jagged edge! He said the tooth was fine. Although since then he banged it a second time and now its looks a slightly different colour to the rest. A son of a friend of mine banged his tooth and it also changed colour. Her dentist said it had 'died'. So I think this is whats happened to my ds. Friends dentist said that it shouldnt cause any probs though, although there is a possibility it may need removing when adult tooth pushed through. I wouldnt worry!

Ds2 age 2, this month, tipped a chair backwards and smashed one front tooth and chipped another. It was a sunday (isnt it always?) so off to the emergency dentist, referred to ours on the monday. Then refered to the dental hospital, who after xrays decided to remove both. He had exposed the nerve, which isnt always painful in milk teeth, but can be. He had it done a week last wednesday. I won't deny it was awful, both DH and I cried as he went under GA, but were grateful as if they couldn't place canula would have been a mask. They took both out,but had to dig as the one which looked better had fractured in the gum. They are hopeful that as he was so young his adult teeth may not have been damaged, although there is no guarantee
On the bright side, he has adjusted really well, and still eats everything in sight. I just cry when I see pictures of him with his teeth though.

My brother did this to a front adult tooth aged about 7. He had it taken out and an implant put in. No lasting damage, nothing too scary and easily replaced as needed

lotf my ds chipped both of his front teeth at 18 months. I was devastated but over time he has filed them down himself naturally and they are now even again-what you will find from talking to people is just how many children of this age damage their milk teeth! see a dentist I am sure they will be fine x

My DS chipped one of his front teeth within days of it appearing (at about 9 months) - no idea how or when, Dh just noticed one day that a corner was missing. I was gutted at the time as he wasn't perfect anymore but now (7 months later) I don't even notice it.

Thanks for all you replies, very much appreciated.
He seems fine and is eating by sticking food in the side which makes me wonder if he has exposed something.
He is still up as all the sleeping he did earlier after the shock of it all has made him full of beans again!

A friend of mine's DS badly cracked a front tooth at around 18 months. They left it in for ... umm ... can't exactly remember somewhere between five and nine months, I'd guess, before having it removed. She does say that she wishes she'd got it removed far sooner from how much happier he seemd with it gone it must have been causing him significant discomfort, and he never really used the tooth properly so it affected his eating.

Went to Dentist this morning, was only in there 2 minutes!
She said there is nothing they will do as anything they do will probably be more distressing for him than actually breaking his teeth was.
She put some flouride gel over it to help minimise any sensitivity and to help with the 'night bottle' damage he has. (on his front teeth the enamel has receded a bit at the gum line due to using a bottle at night)
She said the fact his teeth had this damage may well have been a blessing as the teeth absorbed the impact, rather then being pushing around in the gum or jarring the teeth to follow. They crumbled.
She said they are bound to discoulour and may need to be removed, as many of you said.
Thanks for all your replies on this!

Ps: All his other teeth are fine, so that's good!

My DD managed to bang both front teeth when she was a similar age. Teeth went grey and she got an abcess. Both were removed and she coped fine. In fact in the end it looked strange to us when her adult teeth came in.

ds smashed his front tooth on the patio aged 2yrs. He had it removed a month or so later at the same time as he was having another procedure that required a GA. I was told theat the broken milk tooth might become infected, which would impact on the underlying adult tooth. Cutting a long story short, he has since grown a fine pair of front adult teeth without any problems. I have to say he's got a lovely set of teeth (takes after his mummy in that dept!), so the early damage had no ill effects long term.

My DS age 6 knocked his front milk tooth out last year in a playground accident, and it jammed right into his gum before coming out. A year later the adult tooth still hasn't come through, so I am worried it has affected its development. Has anyone else had similar, and what would happen if the front adult teeth do not grow? What is an implant?

frankie3,
I shouldn't worry about his tooth not coming through yet - it won't automatically come through just because the milk tooth is missing. My ds only got his adult front teeth in the past year and he's nearly nine. Your dentist could xray his mouth to check that the tooth is there, as they did with ds.
I'm clueless regarding implants I'm afraid.