ER visit

We had the "opportunity" to see the inside of this building

The Seattle Children's Hospital.

I was visiting a friend from graduate school and ironically she told me the story of her son falling down the stairs and dislocating his front tooth. She was telling me of her experience with the pediatric dentist when we heard thump, thump, thump. Ellie fell down the steps!
I scooped her up and took her to the sink since there was blood pouring out of her mouth. At first I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from, but after 5 min or so I could tell that her left front tooth was deviated to the left. Her bottom lip was also very swollen and the skin was raw from carpet burn. My friend was such a great help during this adventure, she called the nurse at the hospital to see what to do. They recommended either a trip to the ER or an emergency dental visit. We couldn't find a dentist that was open, so I loaded the kids up and met Matt at the Seattle Children's Hospital. By the time we got there, about 90 min after she fell, she stopped screaming and the bleeding had stopped.
Our experience in the ER was wonderful, minus the fact that Ellie was in pain. Everyone was friendly and informative. I learned that any time a tooth moves front to back, there is a concern that the bone around the tooth is broken, which can cause long-term problems. Ellie's tooth was slightly loose, you could move it left/right and front/back, so they wanted a pediatric dentist to see her. We went to her office across the street. She wasn't worried about any bone issues, but semi-worried about the position of the tooth. It is possible that the tooth lost the blood supply. She offered to pull it right then, but we decided to wait and see if the tooth dies. Frankly, I want to give her an opportunity to have all her teeth. Since it's a baby tooth, and it would be pulled, they can not put a crown or any prosthesis in it's place. Poor girl might be missing her front teeth for 7 years- that would be a long-term Christmas wish-- All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!!!

As the swelling went down, her tooth moved back into a more normal position. We will have to wait about 2 weeks to see if the tooth firms up. If it does, then it is probably alive. If it does not, then we need to have it pulled to avoid infection. Our prayer is that the tooth has good blood supply. I will keep you updated when we know more.