Question

8-year-old bumped top front permanent tooth falling off a chair at home. Blood around the top edge of the tooth. It’s Sunday (or course), so our dentist’s office is closed. What to do? Where to go? Do I need to (gently) see if the tooth is actually loose? Just watch it? We have a swim meet that starts in a couple hours, and I’m not sure how pressing this is.  

Answer 1

Call your dentists office, they probably have an answering service for emergencies.  

Comments

@couteau they do not. I’ve called.  

---

@bethelbethena shoot. Sorry. I hope everything works out.  

---

@couteau thank you!  

---

@bethelbethena that seems ridiculous!  

---

@fiduciary I was surprised as well.  

Answer 2

@richardson can you help?!  

Comments

@falkner absolutely! Lea, I’m happy to go into the office and check things out for you if you like today just to make sure it’s not an emergency situation (wouldn’t have my assistant there to take an X-ray, but we could at least make sure things dont look dire). Alternatively, from what you are describing, if your kiddo isn’t in a ton of pain, it’s probably just concussed and nothing too serious. I would hold off on swimming or any other physical activity. Blood I’m not worried about. Biggest question is does the tooth look displaced/moved into a new position? That needs immediate attention. If tooth is still in the same physical position as before, it should be okay. Soft food diet for the next week too— not biting into apples or anything hard that will put pressure on it. Anywho, shoot me a message if you’d like to coordinate a visit today  

---

@falkner thanks for thinking of me, Colleen!  

---

@richardson Omgoodness you have a heart of gold! Wonderful advice! Thank you Dr. Gantos! #bestdentistEVER!  

---

@richardson This is so kind of you! The tooth is still in its original place and not loose. I think we’ll follow your directions on soft foods and contact our dentist first thing in the AM. SO sweet of you to offer to help; based on what you’ve said, I think it’s probably going to be fine. He was nervous, so we got nervous! (-:

---

@falkner LoL stop- you’re so sweet! It’s not fun for parents when kiddos have tooth emergencies- happy to try and help any way I can  

---

@bethelbethena yes! If it’s not loose that’s a great sign! If he’ll comply with warm salt water rinses, you can try to do that just to keep the area clean and minimize any risk of infection (risk is low anyway, so if he won’t do it, don’t push it too hard). You may find hes avoidant to brushing the area too because it’s tender. that’s okay. brush everywhere else and tomorrow you can try VERY GENTLY to brush that tooth or avoid that spot all together for a couple days if it is really bad. I would also avoid anything with the potential to re-Injure the tooth for a week— soccer, karate, swimming (kids notoriously hit their mouths on the hard edge of the pool), etc. soft food diet for 1 week (Mac and cheese, tuna fish, etc). Tissues heal amazingly quick- so although it probably looks red and purple and crazy in there, that’ll go down soon  Best of luck!  

Answer 3

It doesn’t seem loose at all, so we’re not going to panic. It would be nice to know if there’s an dental emergency option in town, though. I’ll call our office again in the AM.  

Comments

@bethelbethena every dentist has to provide emergency care for their patients. Your office will have something in place- an after hours call center is what a lot of people use. In our office, when patients call after hours, they are prompted to hit “1” which takes them directly to the cellphone of the “on call doctor. ” So while there aren’t “urgent care centers” like there are in medical, all dentists have protocols in place to help patients on off hours. There’s always help out there  

Answer 4

Some ER’s and hospitals have a dentist available. That’s where we first met our awesome pediatric dentist (in Albany NY)

Answer 5

Most dentists have an emergency line. Not sure where you are going but worth looking into switching for the future. It’s most likely fine but down the road the tooth may turn black and need a root canal.  

Answer 6

I would definitely get it checked out ASAP, something similar happened to me when I was younger and the front tooth has become discolored as I’ve gotten older and won’t whiten with whitening strips, my dentist has said the tooth isn’t dead but the discoloration is definitely due to the trauma.  

Comments

@adal185 you could possibly try internal bleaching  only if the tooth has a root canal, though. But teeth like that you can bleach from the “inside” instead of the outside  

---

@richardson yes! I just had this done on one I injured when I was 13. Root canal done 20 years ago and just recently had internal bleaching done. Sooo much easier and cheaper than a crown or veneer.  

---

@manifestation Glad to hear it was a good experience for you!  When it comes to bleaching— there’s lot of solutions depending on the issue. Even things like tetracycline stain which most people think can’t be bleached can be helped- as long as you use the right system and know the right plan of attack  

Answer 7

Thanks, all, for your help! I was surprised to learn that our dentist doesn’t have directions for this type of situation on the office voicemail. We’ll check in with them tomorrow morning, clarify what we’re supposed to do in the event of future emergencies, and check on that tooth!  

Answer 8

Also, what kind of a kid injures himself playing with Legos? My kid. ‍♀️

Comments

@bethelbethena  it’s almost impressive when you think about the skill that would take  bless his heart.