While we were in California, Lanie bumped her mouth/upper-front tooth on the wooden frame of my mother-in-law's couch. There was some bleeding along the gum line, but by the next day everything seemed fine. She said it didn't even hurt. Last week, I noticed that the tooth was turning grey. So, I scheduled a dentist appointment (which was today) to make sure everything is ok. Prior to the appointment, I did some research online and it sounds like this is normal and, in many cases, the tooth will turn back to white on its own. Today, the dentist informed me that the nerve is dead and I can either have 1). the tooth extracted or 2). a pulpectomy (which is essentially a baby root canal). His exact words about the decision I had to make were, "Would you rather be stuck between a rock or a hard place?" After much debate, the dentist and I felt the pulpectomy will be the better option because having a space in her mouth for so many years could cause other problems with her permanent teeth. The good news is that it is a painless procedure since the nerve is already dead. They will, however, sedate her. My poor kid.
7 comments:
Can you just leave it as is?
Yes, but doing so runs the risk of it becoming abscessed. Once that happens, the only solution is to extract the tooth. A successful pulpectomy will save the tooth until it is ready to fall out when she is older. It is quite the dilemma. Things I have read online sound like these things often go away in 6 months or so. The dr. said the chances of that are very slim and that it will ultimately become infected- but there is no way to predict when. Is it worth a second opinion or should I just trust this doc?
Holy crap!
I noticed one of my teeth turning gray a while back. I remember being half scared and half "maybe I'm seeing things." I finally went to the dentist for a regular checkup, didn't say anything about the tooth, but expected him to be like, Uh...you're going to die. But he didn't even mention it. And I'm still fine. My dad seems to have gray teeth too. I guess it's different with baby teeth, though.
Pop has grey teeth, too. I'm not sure what that's all about? His seems to me to be an issue with opacity. Like the teeth seem semi-translucent or something. It must be a Smith thing.
Tommi had something like that when she was little- if I remember correctly, the nerve was dead but I don't remember what we did about it- I just remember a special pediatric dentist.
Call my mom! She'd remember much better than I.
hey faith had this too! well it was with a loose tooth that had bled a bit. the nerve was dead, and we just had to wait for it to fall out. i understand that is not the case...but what is the problem with just extracting it when kids that are 5 and 6 have them fall out anyway. I understand spacing and all..i will have to call you because I wanna talk about it...poor lanie! :(
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