What To Do If Your Child Chips a Tooth
By Ronan Freyne | Published on December 21, 2010 | 0 Comments
When children are just beginning to walk, slips and falls that result in banged up or broken teeth are often inevitable. According to Dr. Ronan Freyne, a cosmetic dentistry specialist in Chevy Chase, MD, it’s common for dentists to receive frantic calls from parents of toddlers under the age of three over concerns about chipped front teeth.
The good news, according to Dr. Freyne, is that pediatric patients who bang their teeth while trying to walk are almost always going to be okay. Even if a handful of teeth in a toddler’s mouth happen to come loose after the fall, that does not usually mean that an emergency trip to the dentist is necessary. When young patients fall and bang their teeth, Dr. Freyne says, the most common result is that a baby tooth might intrude into the gums a little bit.
Most dentists are not going to be able to do much with a patient this young, however, because chances are that the loose tooth will come back into its proper position on its own after a few hours or days. With that in mind, Dr. Freyne says that absolutely no dental intervention is usually necessary for the majority of childhood fall incidences that he comes into contact with.
Although having a loose tooth isn’t necessarily a reason to bring a child in for an emergency appointment, Dr. Freyne still recommends that parents schedule appointments with a cosmetic dentistry professional to get their children’s mouths checked out when falls seem especially bad. During the time between when the accident occurs and when the child is able to see the dentist, Dr. Freyne recommends trying to control any bleeding that is happening with gauze or basic pressure to the mouth or the gums.
Dr. Freyne emphasizes that these types of spills and tumbles do happen quite frequently during adolescent years, and that a parent should not freak out if his child falls and bangs his tooth. This is especially true for toddlers, since these types of incidences are extremely likely to happen again.
Of course, this advice only applies to children who have all of their baby teeth. Dr. Freyne recommends a slightly different course of treatment for an adolescent patient with mixed dentition (some baby teeth and some adult teeth). If a child with mixed dentition chips a tooth, then he should be brought to a dentist immediately.
There are different levels of severity for chipped teeth, ranging from small enamel chips – which many patients might not even notice – all the way to teeth that get chipped in half. During baseball season especially, Dr. Freyne sees many kids who have gotten hit in the mouth with baseballs. This is something that needs to be addressed more urgently than an infant or a toddler who has simply fallen and banged up a baby tooth. For cases like this, Dr. Freyne recommends calling a dentist and scheduling an emergency appointment.
*Disclaimer: The information on this website is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.