Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Dentist Emergency!

Well, we've gone over 3 years without any type of emergency around here...until last night! (It's bound to happen sometime with a very active toddler, right?) Last night after Randy got finished reading Ben bedtime stories, Ben was reaching for his glass of water on his nightstand next to his bed. He consequently slipped and hit his mouth really hard on the corner of the nightstand. After lots of crying and blood, Randy and I were able to get a good look at the damage. Ugh. His front 4 teeth had shifted backwards (looking like he has an underbite) and his right front tooth had tipped back really bad...pointing back towards his throat. His gums are really bruised too. I called the dentist on-call (funny, Ben's first dentist appt was schedule for tomorrow, Wednesday)...and she said to put some ice on it, give him Motrin and come into the office first thing at 9am.
So, we went to the dentist this morning and he said that the bad tooth didn't need to be pulled right now. Ben wouldn't cooperate for an xray to see if the tooth was broken at the root, so we just have to wait and see if it abcesses. The dentist said a lot of these tooth injuries to baby teeth are able to heal themselves and few have to be pulled. He said a lot of baby teeth with these injuries can actually move back towards the original place over time. (I'm hopeful!) The injury will not affect his permanent teeth, but until he loses his baby teeth, he will be "snaggle-toothed". Which won't be that big of a deal, because when Ben smiles you never see his teeth anyway! His upper lip always covers his teeth when he smiles. So, for now, we wait to see if his tooth abcesses and feed him a soft diet for the next few days.
(P.S. Didn't want to post a picture of this injury...it's pretty gross!) ;-)

1 comment:

Mary Ann said...

Ok, another Wowza. Ouch. Isn't that the way it happens....at the end of a long day. I hope he heals up fast, poor little guy.