One chance for a lost tooth

Today I learned some important information that I wish I had when we took Noah to the ER. We went to a pediatric dentist today. During our visit it became apparent that Noah's tooth could have been saved had the right phone call been made. It is my hope that sharing our hardship can help someone in the future. When we took him to the ER, we expected that the doctors would know who to call. Well unfortunately the first ER physician we had made a crucial mistake. He failed to call a dentist. He did call the oral surgeon on call, however it would have been better had he called a dentist. For one the oral surgeon was the only one on call for the entire city of Ft. Wayne. Second the time wasted waiting was time lost in which the tooth could have been put back in and had a fair chance of survival. With children, their roots often are not done forming, which increases the chance of the tooth surviving if re-implanted (shoved back in). One simple phone call could have spared a lot of physical, emotional, and financial pain. Noah will deal with this for the rest of his life. To see the dentist's frustration on Noah's behalf was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

The moral of the story, which I'm sure you know by now, call the dentist in any trauma to the mouth. I would have found a phone book and called myself had I known it could have made a difference. If a permanent tooth gets knocked out, put it in milk and know that time is not on your side. Keep your dentist number in your wallet or tell the ER staff that you want a dentist to be notified. This may seem a bit over dramatic, but you get one chance to save the tooth that comes out. Sadly, we missed ours.