Can you help me? I had a front tooth knocked way backward a week ago. So much that the root is protruding all the way into my upper lip. When my dentist eventually got me in he was able to line up the bottoms of my teeth. However, the injured root is still protruding and everything hurts in that area. Is there any way this can be repositioned with a surgeon? My dentist says there is nothing that can be done. I just don’t think I can continue with this much discomfort non-stop.
Help,
Dave
Dear Dave,
I wish we had known about this sooner. Your dentist is not up to date on emergency protocol. Worse than that, he doesn’t even seem to be aware of what other specialties can do to help you now that there is more permanent damage. First, your dentist should have considered this a dental emergency and gotten you in right away. Within a day or two at the most, everything can be put back into its proper place. Too much after that and you usually have to wait until it is fully healed and see an orthodontist to have it moved that way. You can have the braces put on just the front teeth and have it moved. It will not take the same length of time that traditional orthodontics take.
A word of warning. This tooth is going to need a root canal treatment at some point because of the amount of trauma to the tooth. Whichever dentist or endodontist (root canal specialist) you have do this, make sure they do not leave any gutta percha or root canal cement in the tooth or it will darken, leaving your tooth to look discolored. This is a front tooth, which makes it especially important. Our smile is one of the first things people notice about us. Though it will likely darken eventually, a good cosmetic dentist will know how to delay that as long as possible and will even have a good procedure they can do to match that tooth to the rest of them when the discoloration eventually does take place. You’ll have a good number of years before that is necessary however if they keep the gutta percha and cement out.
This blog is brought to you by Des Moines Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Phelan Thomas.