Well, as it turns out. It also led to this.
Did you notice the lovely little chip in her tooth?
While we were in California, she chipped her tooth. I called into the dentist at the time and they told me that there wasn't much to worry about. We were about to go in for a regular cleaning and check up so I didn't think much of it.
Fast forward a few weeks and we went to that check up. They asked if I had concerns so naturally I mentioned the chipped tooth. They took an x-ray and discovered that not only was the tooth chipped, the roots of her front two baby teeth were completely fractured. Broken. Beyond repair.
The dentist's reccomendation?
Are you sitting down?
That BOTH teeth be REMOVED.
I know. I felt the same way. Worse actually.
They wanted to have her teeth pulled out. Then to top it off, they wouldn't put anything in there. It would just be empty until it was time for her permanent teeth to naturally come in. In 3-5 years. YEARS.
After chatting it up with quite a few people, we decided to get another opinion from another pediatric dentist.
We discussed the risks vs the trauma of pulling the teeth and living with the gap. We learned that the biggest risk is infection and abscess of the roots. But ultimately, for the time being, we have decided to leave the teeth in. The 2nd opinion revealed that they are strong and stable where they are and she (the dentist) said if it were her daughter, she'd wait and see.
So thats what we are doing. Watching, waiting, and hoping that they will be ok until they come out naturally in a couple of years.
She's still quite the cutie, no?
Unfortunately, that cuteness only goes so far to relieve the massive Mommy Guilt that I am still feeling.
2 comments:
Poor thing! Doesn't look like it's slowing her down though.
When I was really young I fell out of a stroller and hit my front tooth on the ground, killing the root. I really doubt my parents even took me to the dentist at the time. It turned a darker color than the rest of my teeth and would get really loose like it was going to fall out and then it would firm up again so when I was about 4-5 it was pulled. I don't remember why it was pulled at that age. I got all my adult teeth very young so that may be the reason, to make room for the adult tooth.
It wasn't traumatic to me at all. All I remember is it seemed like everyone at the dentist office was afraid of me, it was a regular dentist not a pediatric dentist, so maybe they weren't used to kids. I'm 35 now and have had no problems with my adult teeth. I did have 2 teeth that were in opposite places but that was totally unrelated and fixed with braces.
My 2 year old niece hit one of her teeth on a table recently and killed the root and now it's discolored too. Funny thing is, it's the exact same tooth that I did it to also. Her dentist told her she would need a root canal! Her parents decided to just watch it for now and if there are problems, then they will do something with it.
I am sure everything will turn out just fine for your little one. At least it's her baby tooth, maybe that's why we get two sets of teeth!
It seems like the more people I talk to about this the more stories I hear of broken roots being fine. It makes me so GLAD that we decided to keep them in for now!!
Thanks for stopping by.
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