Yesterday my 2 1/2 yr old daughter fell while running and hit her face on the leg of a chair. She split her lip and there was blood- which dad took care of, so mom could put her head between her knees and not faint! (I'm so bad when it comes to this stuff- thank God for dad!) Anyway, I was concerned about the injury having pushed one of her teeth up into her gums, but her lip was so swollen and tender that it made it difficult to inspect. It looks much better this morning, and after playing a "twirl upside down game"- I was able to sneak a peek and look at her gums and teeth from underneath. It looks like one tooth may be slightly pushed up, but not much- and there is some bruising on the gums around that tooth. Of course, the inside of her lip is horribly purple and bruised- but all in all, it looks much better than I feared. How do I know if we need to take her into the dentist? Does anyone have any experience with this? (Well, I imagine there have been alot of toddler falls out there!) And, OMG, I don't know how I'm going to survive a little boy coming along behind her and all of the future spills and falls etc... that are sure to come our way. I think I felt worse than my daughter did last night!
Thank you all for your advice! Her lip is MUCH better- and hardly swollen, but underneath her lip and around her gums are purple/black- so I'll give it another day or two, and when it's less tender she might let me look around in there a little more. She is due for her first dentist appointment soon- so I may just give them a call and see what they say. I know kids heal much quicker than we think- but I just want to make sure there is no root damage or anything that will affect her permanent teeth. Thanks so much!
I would call a dentist and most likely they will want to look at her teeth and take x-rays (yes...I say this from experience) to make sure she did not do any damage to any permanent teeth that may be developing up there. Better to be safe than sorry later on! Good luck!
My now 7 year old did a similar thing twice when she was that age...once when my mom was watching her! We did take her to the dentist. The teeth bruised - one turned gray - but the permant teeth came in fine. Good luck from another S. B - S. Baker
My best friends dd, 3.5, fell at preschool a couple weeks ago and split her lip and banged her top teeth. Her teeth ended up being fine, but they made several visits to a pediatric denist. One tooth was discolored and the other was very loose. The worry was the teeth might have broke off under the gum line. They ended up temporarily securing the teeth to let them firm up and heal and monitored with exrays for a couple weeks.
P.S. Lips heal quickly :)
If in any doubt it's better to have a needless dr or dentist appt than to not have a needed one.
Hope she feels better!
My oldest did a face-plant into the cement when he was about the same age. We took him to the dentist because his 2 front teeth were pushed back and one was turning gray. They did x-rays to make sure he didn't damage his permanent teeth, but everything looked fine. His teeth readjusted on their own and the one turned white again. He's 6 now and those teeth are still holding firm in his mouth.
This is probably not the last time she'll hurt her mouth. I suggest you only need to take her in if you suspect a severe gum injury (you don't want it to get infected), permanent tooth damage, or anything that you think will not heal on it's own. Of course, you can always take her in if it would make YOU feel better. =)
This happened to my daughter on at least 3 occasions (yes 3! and she is actually very coordinated!) Anyway, there really isn't much you can do. My brother in law is a dentist. He says if there is real damage, the tooth will turn gray, but there's really nothing you can do in the meantime as long as the tooth is still "steady" in the gums.
Children are completely resilient. If it doesn't seem to bother her and she is able to eat without difficulty or discomfort, I would say she is ok. My second child, the scratch and dent model, had similar incidences (yes plural), I only took him to the dentist once when his tooth turned gray, turns out teeth bruise causing this discoloration, it eventually returned to lovely white(and chipped).
My daughter did just about the same thing at daycare, was running, tripped, fell and hit her top teeth on the table...it was pretty hard I was told, she was pretty swollen around her nasal area also, she looked terrible Her two front teeth were pushed up into her gums and it too was all purple colored but swollen so it was hard to see but it definitely pushed them up in her gums. I could tell when she smiled that it didn't look right..so we took her to the children's dental center and they did some x-rays to make sure there wasn't any damage to the teeth that will come in After baby teeth..I didn't realize they could see that?? They can look at the nerves and make sure there isn't any damage...her teeth looked ok and we did some follow visits just to keep an eye on it and now she's not afraid to go and see the dentist:) It took some time for the swelling to go down and the her teeth came back normal but it took some time and I was pretty worried...If your daughter fell Pretty Hard, enough to cause any swelling/brusing I would defintely take her to the dentist just to be safe..Soft foods are also a good choice since I'm sure biting with the two front teeth is tender. good luck
Where are the answers to S. B.'s question? my 3 year old daughter was running and fell on her face on cement and she has really bad scrapes on her nose and cheek. I took her to the Dr. and he prescribed Mupirocin a topical to help heal faster. Please advise...
Hi S. --
Call the dentist and ask!
L.
When my sone was about 11 moths old my baby sitter tripped on him and fell right on his head. One tooth that was out was push up and the tooth that was not out was now out. His lip was split and the gums were scraped up really bad. We rush him to the ER but they said that because of his age they could not do anything. They said that his tooth might turn a funny color and might fall out but it would still be OK. He is not 15 months and his teeth are not crooked but everything else is just fine! It's a good thing kids are resilient!
I suspect as long as the tooth is still in there and it isn't really loose, a dentist won't do anything. My daughter's front teeth were splitting a little because that flap of skin from your lip to your gums came down right to the tooth line. He said that they would need to cut it a little if she didn't have a fall or something on the playgroup where it ripped a little (which he said most kids have). A few weeks later, she had a fall and it ripped a little. There was a lot of blood, but thankfully our mouths heal so fast. She was fine in a day or so. You could call your dentist but I think that God made kids mouths to withstand crashes and falls. Perhaps that is why he invented baby teeth! He could have just made teeth grow but instead he gave us a whole second set! Good luck!
My daughter who is now 11 did this when she was about the same age as your daughter. We took her in because the baby teeth looked a little discolored a few days after her fall. Our dentist told us that baby teeth can actual survive injuries like that. My daughters teeth eventually turned back white and fell out when they were suppose to.
Good luck with the new little one coming in June. I have since went on to have three boys after my daughter and we have lived through broken bones and many stiches!!
I am a dental assistant at a pediatric dental clinic and falls are the most common childhood injury so I've seen more than my share:( Yes you want to have her looked at. They will take an xray to make sure there is no root fracture and they will evaluate the developing permanent tooth. Depending on how high up it was pushed they will most likely just monitor it (assuming no fracture). There is the possibility it can damage the permanent tooth but unfortunately there really isn't anything you can do about it b/c that would have occurred at the moment of impact. You also will not know that until the adult tooth comes in. If all that needs to be done is monitor the tooth do not be surprised if/when the tooth starts to get darker in color. This is b/c the nerve of the tooth has been damaged and the tooth is dying. "Dead" teeth can stay w/ there as long as no other problems develop. watch for signs of a abscess; bump, blister or swelling on the gums above the tooth. It's important to continue to bring her in every 6 mo so the DDS can continue to evaluate, they may take xrays each time as signs of infections can be seen on the xray b4 clinically.
Good luck!
S.-
You've gotten some good advice...wait and watch. My son did this when he was about the same age. We ended up at an oral surgeon because he had broken the root of the tooth. The surgeon said to watch and see if he developed anything abnormal (like an abscess). We watched and waited, and his root dissolved normally and the tooth fell out at a normal time. Baby teeth and kiddos are sooo tough! Good luck!
