My 7 yr old son and 3 yr old daughter were wrestling yesterday evening. They play around a lot which is fine with me, but sometimes they get a little rough. The 5 yr old can actually handle it. While they were wrestling, my son tried to pin her down. He is careful not to hurt her, but this time she hurt him instead. She took defense with her elbow which went right into my son’s mouth. Her elbow hit one of his teeth pretty hard. The tooth bled for about 20 minutes and today before he went to school he said it hurts a little. I checked it and it’s a little loose. I wasn’t really worried about it because it’s not a permanent tooth, but my husband thinks we need to have it looked at by our pediatric dentist. Is this really necessary? I don’t want to call the office because I know they will tell me to bring my son in whether it’s needed or not. Thanks. Cherise
Cherise – When a tooth is loosened it is normal for it to bleed a little from the gums. A slightly loose tooth usually tightens up on its own.
If the tooth feels very loose, or if your son is in persistent pain, you should call your pediatric dentist. Your dentist will likely want to check the tooth anyway to see if it needs to be repositioned, or if it’s very loose, your dentist may want to remove the tooth altogether.
If a primary tooth is loose and needs to be extracted, a spacer may be needed to hold the place for the permanent tooth so that the adjacent teeth won’t shift into the space.
Contacting your pediatric dentist just to check out the tooth is a good precaution.
This post is sponsored by Naperville dentist Dr. Anthony LaVacca.
