8pm flight from LaGuardia and I’m back in short-sleeved 85 degrees New Orleans before midnight. With this to greet me.
(Photo by Paul, and outfit by A., I think?)
Aye, but there’s a rub.
Notice Kate’s front tooth? The one on the right in the picture? See how it’s gray? It’s from when she fell a few weeks ago. My Colombian go-to Dentist friend checked her out and advised x-ray due to abscess potential — gray indicates restricted blood flood which usually heals on it’s own, but could also worsen. As I understand it. We’ve been busy and the whole no dental insurance thing has us gun-shy. (To my credit, I did call the LSU children’s clinic — THREE TIMES — and never got a call back.)
A few times Kate has complained of tooth pain, though we’re not sure if was really legit (or just her hearing me freak out about it.)
Anyone else have experience with the gray tooth?
sue | 28-Sep-09 at 8:24 pm | Permalink
I can’t remember if the Dental School reopened. If it did, that might be worth a try.
eli | 28-Sep-09 at 10:21 pm | Permalink
Can’t say I have current experience, however as a child I had one of my upper incisors bonked and turn grey. My parents were advised to just let it be unless something appeared to go very wrong (serious pain, blister from abcess, or I couldn’t eat). I remember being 4 when it turned grey and around 10 when it finally fell out.
Get the x-ray but don’t rush to get it yanked.
heather | 04-Oct-09 at 4:34 pm | Permalink
We can save you the cost…Alex fell and his turned gray – our pediatrician said don’t worry, and we opted to ignore his advice and went to a kids dentist.
Dentist did x-rays, said we’d have to wait and see, and had us come back in 2 months.
In the meantime, the gray went away. Like, totally healed itself so now there is only a slight color variation – not even noticeable to anyone but us.
Home diagnosis – take the end of a spoon and tap the tooth. If she doesn’t flinch it’s probably fine.
Moral of the story is, don’t worry unless it looks like the gums are swelling or she tells you it hurts. Hope that helps!
Kellee | 26-Oct-09 at 4:41 pm | Permalink
My 5 year old nephew just had this same thing done. He fell and hit his tooth. It turned grey. Abscessed. Then they had to pull it. Not sure if abscessed teeth are more expensive to pull or not. I would think a tooth pull would be relatively inexpensive compared to a filling or other procedures.
No matter. I hope you get it figured out soon.