Theriot Family Dental

Do I Need to Wait to Fix My Daughter’s Broken Tooth?

Posted by writeradmin

My elementary age daughter was playing outside and and tripped. This resulted in one of her front teeth breaking. I took her to the dentist and he told me that he could not fix her tooth for about a month. I was not thrilled about that wait period so I asked him for a recommendation for someone who could. His response was that the nerves needed to settle down anyway, so I wouldn’t need a recommendation. This does not sit right with me either. Do I really need to wait that long to fix her tooth? She’s really uncomfortable about her tooth and doesn’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want her missing out on her first month of her summer break.

Topanga

Dear Topanga,

Girl in a pediatric dental chair

Your gut feeling is correct. There is no reason to wait. Your dentist just said that to keep you from going elsewhere. As a side note, that tells me a lot about your dentist’s integrity. He cares more about getting the profit from the procedure than he does about his clients. It may be time to look for another dentist.

As for your daughter. If you have the piece that broke off, it is possible that it can just be bonded back on. If you do not have the broken piece than the tooth can be repaired with dental bonding.

While pediatric dentists are wonderful and do great work with children, I don’t know of any who also does cosmetic work or has any training in cosmetic procedures. Because of that, you may want to take your daughter to a general dentist who also treats children. Just make sure they have training and experience in the work you need done. It will be especially important that you look at the dentist’s smile gallery. This will allow you to see the results the dentist has achieved with the procedure your daughter needs. If you’re not impressed, find another dentist.

This blog is brought to yu by Lafayette, LA Dentist Dr. John Theriot.