My seven year old daughter broke a front tooth after a fall. The dentist said it is not anything to worry about and he can schedule me for six weeks from now. I really want this taken care of immediately and asked him for a referral. Instead, he told me that the nerves needed time to settle before anything could be done and no one would see me sooner. Is that accurate?

Karen

Dear Karen,

No, there is no reason to wait. My only guess as to why he said that is he wanted to keep you at his practice. That being said, I do want to check something. Did he do an x-ray and tell you everything is fine and he can do the repair in six weeks or did he just tell you everything was fine when you tried to schedule an appointment without actually seeing her? If he didn’t examine her, I would feel more at ease if she at least had an x-ray done to see what you are dealing with.

If there is no damage to the pulp, then a cosmetic fix is all she will need. This can be solved with dental bonding, but you’ll want to go see a cosmetic dentist for that.

If the pulp was damaged, there may be a point where she’ll need a dental crown because the tooth will start turning gray. However, that is a wait-and-see situation.

Find a different pediatric dentist for your daughter. You can even see a general dentist who treats children. They all did a pediatric rotation and she will be in safe hands.

This blog is brought to you by Phoenix Dentist Dr. Hillary Peck.