Dead front teeth in 3 y/o??

[Anonymous]

My DS3 fell off the bed a few weeks ago and now his two front teeth are turning gray. I think this means they're dead or dying. Has anyone been through this before, and can they save the teeth or has the gray ever gone away? I am sick tonight waiting until the morning to see the dentist... I don't want him to lose them early and have so long before he gets his front teeth again. (Not to mention he has a 50/50 chance of getting my husband's enormous style front teeth! Won't look good on a 5/yo..)

[Anonymous]

my son had this happen to one tooth and it has been a year now-- its a tiny bit grayer than the others, but seems to have healed. the dentist says unless it seems infected, there was nothing to do but wait. i'll keep my fingers crossed for him...

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, I have not been through your exact situation. My son both chipped his front teeth and has knocked one loose. If the both teeth are indeed dead, I'm not sure what they would recommend in this situation. One of the things they may do tomorrow is take an x-ray to try and get some indication of the health of the root and whether or not it was severed. Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

You need the care of a good dentist.

[Anonymous]

FWIW I ran into a post when I was about 4 and had a slightly gray front tooth for a while.

I don't know exactly what we did about it (I come freom a big family with a less than attentive mother) but I am absolutely positive I would have remembered visiting a dentist to have it pulled, so I know we didn't do that. And there were a lot of pictures of me with a gray front tooth, so we must have just left it in until it fell out (around age 6). Anyhow, I don't remember any pain or emotional trauma from the event or from having a gray tooth for a while, and eventually my new tooth came in just fine.

This probably doesn't help at all, but it is all I remember.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. The tooth looked better after the initial bruised gum healed, but I've been hovering like a hawk looking for a gray tinge. Tonight when I was tucking him in, it was soooo gray. I had a permanent tooth die at age 13 (bottom front) so I knew when he did the damage, there was nothing a dentist could do to save it. We did everything to save mine to no avail.

I don't mind him having two gray baby front teeth. It's not ideal, but at least he won't have missing teeth for 3 years. I'm also worried about damage to his permanent teeth even more than these baby teeth. I hope I can get in with a dentist tomorrow morning. This is going to worry me sick, esp if something could have been done at the initial time of injury.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP - my 4 1/2 has a brown/gray front tooth. He banged it when he was 18 months old, and it never recovered. My dentist isn't worried about damage to the permanent teeth, but agrees that the color will stay the same or get darker. We're just waiting for the tooth fairy to arrive when he is older.

[Anonymous]

YOu need to see the dentist.

My DD (3.5) banged her teeth and they were a bit loose. The dentist took an x-ray and looked for abcessed gum material.

We were told that if it becomes infected, they will pull it out immediately. However, if it is not infected, they leave it in until it falls out. It may fall out on its own when he bites into something. Our dentist told us not to limit her foods; if the tooth comes out, it's certainly not a tragedy. My dd's tooth turned a bit gray but has remained in for almost a year.

Since then, I've noticed plenty of other 3 and 4 yos with missing teeth.

[Anonymous]

My four year old banged her tooth a month ago and it turned grey two weeks later. Our dentist (Dana Greenwald, one of DC's best) said no need to come in unless there are signs of an abcess. Apparently teeth can get bruised and return to their normal color or they can stay grey. My husband is in a total tizzy and wants to do "something" if it stays grey....

[Anonymous]

This happened to my son twice, two different occasions, once to each front tooth. Each got pretty gray but x-rays showed no abcess or other damage and now they're white again. Your dentist can take an x-ray and you can watch for an abcess. Don't worry. It's really common. Worst case scenario would involve trying to save the tooth or simply pulling it. But both of my son's went back to their previous healthy state.

[Anonymous]

OP again. We saw the dentist, who was great and said there is nothing to do but wait. The x-ray showed no damage to the permanent teeth (and gave me a sneak peek - sure enough, he's got my DH's horsie-sized front teeth... *sigh*)

She said her own son had a similar trauma to his front teeth and all she did was wait, same as us, to see what happened. There is nothing that can be done, other than treating infection. If they die, they might fall out or stay in for another couple of years. Might come back, might not. Even if he had damaged his permanent teeth, it didn't sound like much could have been done about that either. They were still so immature and high up in the gum.

I feel much better after seeing her and hearing that this is fairly common. Even though it happened while my DH was right there playing with our son, I still felt like I was a bad mom somehow. I'm just waiting to see what happens over the next 6 months or so with the coloring returning to normal or getting worse.

[zumbamama]

i am in the same boat. DD fell on her 3 front teeth twice 2 yrs ago, they are still grey. Now she has chiseled them down in her sleep. But dentist says just to wait, unless it gets infected. This post makes me feel better too!