A young lad , lets call him Zak, came in as an emergency with his mum this afternoon.
Zak’s eleven, and he’d taken a flyer over a skipping rope at dinnertime. Sadly, the inevitable impact was right on the end of one of his top front adult teeth, and the tooth snapped.
The school rang mum, and she quickly phoned us. Within an hour he was with me and we did what we needed to do.
We fixed the broken bit – you can’t see the join. Importantly we repaired the damaged nerve, which was there for all to see in all its glory and not a Good Thing at all. Zak didn’t complain because he didn’t feel a thing…..
Mum was distraught but bravely hiding it. After we’d finished, and no doubt feeling all the guilt that mothers feel in situations like this, she asked me what would happen to Zak’s tooth in the future.
I said that it’s not certain, but the chances of the tooth recovering, remaining healthy and staying put for life were massively improved by the quick actions of both the school and mum. She cheered up and smiled.
So:
If you have a kid who falls over and cracks a tooth, or worse, knocks it out – remember this:
If the tooth is right out, be brave, put it right back in the socket and get to your dentist fast.
If the tooth’s not out, but has snapped – get to your dentist fast – the nerve might just be damaged.
Nuff said