I don’t know what to do. My 9-year-old daughter had a fall outside and broke one of her permanent front teeth. We took her in for an emergency appointment and he did x-rays. The root itself is fine, which was a relief but he said he can’t fix this for over a month. When I expressed concern he said doing it before then would be irresponsible because the tooth needs time to desensitize. Is that normal? I’d hate to wait that long to fix this for her, but I also don’t want to do anything which will put her in danger.
Cathey,
First, I want to congratulate you for getting her in with an emergency dental appointment. This was wise. Early intervention could have saved her tooth if the root or pulp was damaged. Great job, MOM!
I’m not sure why your pediatric dentist said you had to wait. My guess is he doesn’t want to lose the business by you going somewhere else that can get you in sooner. This can be fixed right now. In your case, I’d look for a good cosmetic dentist. You don’t have to take her to a pediatric dentist. For this type of repair, I’d focus on the aethetics, though you might want to make sure it is a cosmetic dentist who is good with children.
If you still have the part of the tooth which broke, a dentist may be able to reattach it. If you don’t have that, don’t panic. Instead, you can have dental bonding done. This uses a freehand procedure where a dentist can sculpt the missing part of the tooth back on. When done by a skilled cosmetic dentist it will look completely natural.
Just make certain you check their smile gallery to see before and after pictures of that particular procedure which they have done to make sure you like the results.
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