Sunday, March 21, 2010

Bruiser

Earlier in the month, James had his first run-in with the pavement at his preschool. He was running (go figure!) and his little legs couldn't keep up with the rest of his body. So, down he went. Apparently, it was quite the bloody scene. Once the teachers cleaned him up (within minutes), he brushed off the injury and was ready to run again. But, since he fell on his mouth and there was already bruising on his gum line, it warranted a phone call to mommy and daddy. Will stepped up to the plate, erased his schedule for the rest of the day and rushed James off to the dentist to check his front teeth. We were worried about possibly loosing one or two....

After a very successful trip to the dentist (James was dancing and singing in the back room with the dental assistants), we found out that no serious damage was done to his jaw line or teeth. We were told to watch his front tooth for any discoloration or discomfort. Well, within two weeks, the tooth turned gray and James started to complain of an "owie" in his mouth and he didn't want to bite down on certain foods.

After another trip to the dentist and multiple xrays, we learned that the nerve was totally dead.The discomfort was probably caused by excess gases from the dead nerve tissue. (I'm not dentist and this is totally written in layman's terms from what I remember, so if it's incorrect, please forgive me.) So, the dentist recommended a procedure where they drill a small hole in the back of the tooth, fill it with a medication that kills all the tissue and cleans out the hole. Apparently, this is the most common procedure among toddlers!
A couple of weeks later, they seal off of the hole and re-whiten the front of the tooth. The sealant simply goes away when the permanent tooth pushes through (in a couple of years). Until then, our little sunshine still has his perfect smile, all teeth are in place and there is no pain or discomfort!

I was very pleased with the dentists and dental assistants and very proud of James!

We were able to take him out in public after a couple of weeks (after the swelling went down and his busted lip healed!)

2 comments:

  1. The same thing happened to Benjamin last week! I don't think his was quite as bad though. We're so lucky these rough and tumbles are so low to the ground!

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  2. Wow! I've never heard of that dental procedure, but could totally see it happening to us. Glad you were proactive and took him in the first place. Another good lesson learned for me! James is such a cutie - you can't tell he ever had a bruise in the latest pictures. Tough guy!

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