What should I do if my 2 year old broke his front tooth?

Question

Its the 4th of July and my toddler fell of a chair and chipped his front upper tooth. It is loose. How can I tell if there is nerve damage? It is a little loose. We can't find an emergency dentist today. Should I take him to the emergency room?

Answer 1

all or most pediatric dentists in the usa, even general dentists can be called in the weekdn and night for an emergency, just look for one. if it is not urgent then wait for monday. i worry that her chipped  tooth is sharp so try to feel it with your finger.

Answer 2

being as it is a baby tooth, just let it be. It will fall out and the new one will be fine. However to take percautions take him to a dentist and have them look it over. He (or she :O) will tell you what 2 do.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, the ER won't be able to do a whole lot. He needs to be seen by a pediatric dentist. I had the same thing happen to me when I was five. My baby tooth later fell out on its own, but I had no nerve damage and my permanent teeth are fine. For now avoid feeding anything he has to chew too much. It's the fourth, let him enjoy some ice cream. It's soft and it'll keep him happy.

Answer 4

Call your ER and ask what to do. Sometimes just sticking the tooth back in will work, if it is loose keep him from moving it a lot It may just set back without help.

Answer 5

My daughter chipped her front tooth too when she was lucky, it was a bit wiggly, but settled back in. That depends on how loose it is.

If it's not jagged and really sharp( feel your finger along it to check just to make sure that it's not sharp), but a pretty smooth chip wait until you can make an appointment with your pediatric dentist. Orajel to make the gum feel better.

All the dentist did when I took my daughter is look at it and said it's ok. About 1 1/2 years later he put a little filling on it, since she had a tiny cavity starting at the chip side. It's not a permanent tooth and will be fine.

Answer 6

don't panic.  put some ice on it and wait it out until you can find a pediatric dentist.  sometimes the tooth will harden in its spot again and others, it won't.  there is a way you can tell if their is nerve damage.  if you can see the tooth changing color.  this is the tooths way of showing that it is dying.  usually you cannot see this until a few weeks to even a year.  but don't panic.  when you do find a pediatric dentist, he will take an xray to check on nerve damage.  if there is damage, your child may need a pulpotomy, which is like a baby tooth root canal.  but the procedure is much more easier than a adult tooth root canal so relax.  if your child isn't eating or drinking or sleeping correctly or is very fussy, then take him to the er but if he is running around like nothing happened, then wait it out.  good luck!

Answer 7

To be honest, I don't think they will do much for it anyway. He will loose his baby teeth in a few years anyway, so they probably won't repair the damage. I know when that is what happened to my little nephew the dentist said if it fell out then he'd just have a space for a few years. But after a few weeks the tooth got its color back (it had turned gray) and wasn't so loose anymore.

Answer 8

Tie a piece of string (about 3 1/2 ft long) to it and tie the other end to a door, set lil boy down about 3 feet from door, slam door shut hard.

Put some ice in his pants, he'll forget about his mouth hurting.

Problem solved.

Answer 9

IF HE START TO RUN A FEVER YES TAKE HIM TO THE ER OR WAIT UNTIL MONDAY.

Answer 10

as long as he is not acting different, then he can wait until Monday... if at all he is acting differently or having major discomfort then i would go ahead and take him into the ER.

Answer 11

The tooth is probably ok, I know a few of the kids on my parents group board did similar things.

Just remember to watch out for any odd behaviour, a broken tooth from falling off a chair was a pretty good fall, stay alert for any head injury that might show up, sleepy or sick - those are emergency room signs. The tooth itself is probably sore but fine, they don't usually do much of anything for a broken baby tooth seeing as it will be out in 3 years anyway.

Hope the rest of his 4th is happy.

Answer 12

Not unles he is in pain and has fever...

My son chipped his tooth, and he is fine now 1 year latter... I took him to the dentist, and they only filled it a little, so it wasn't that sharp to hurth him, but it's a baby tooth, relax!

Answer 13

Can you call his doctor? Someone from the office should be on call and he will be able to tell you what to do.

If your child is in pain you should take him to the doctor - otherwise you might be able to wait until tomorrow or monday.