I’m not sure what to do. My daughter was playing outside and fell and took off a chunk of her front tooth. I took her to the dentist and he said everything is fine. When I asked him to fix it he said he would need to wait six to eight weeks for the nerves to desensitize. Is that really necessary? By then she should be back in school. Though she’ll probably be in a mask most of the time, at lunchtime the kids will see her tooth. I don’t want her embarrassed.
Lisa
Dear Lisa,
There is no dental reason to wait. He may be stalling to figure out the best fix. What she really needs is a cosmetic dentist familiar with this type of repair.
One thing you didn’t mention is whether it was an adult or baby tooth. If it is a baby tooth, you may just want to extract it. It’s not uncommon for young children to be missing teeth so it won’t be an issue at school. Front teeth don’t have to remain in place as long as their back molars.
If it is her permanent tooth, then the repair should go forward. Ideally, if you have the piece that broke off it could be repaired that way. Otherwise, you will need to find a dentist who does dental bonding. That will use a composite resin to build up the missing structure.
I don’t think most pediatric dentists will be familiar with these types of repairs. You will have more success with a general dentist who treats children.
It was smart of you to have the tooth checked out right away. Whenever there is trauma to a tooth, even if there is no visible challenge, there can be underlying damage to the root or developing adult tooth. Being proactive like you were can save her tooth.
This blog is brought to you by cosmetic dentist Dr. Susan Dennis of Portage, MI.