Daughter fell and knocked out tooth. What would you do? Opinions please!!?

My 2 year old fell and knocked out one of her front teeth and chipped the other. I took her to a pediatric dentist and on her first visit, they removed the almost completely knocked out tooth. In order to do this, they put her in a papoose and gave her nitrous oxide. The second visit to the dentist, they took xrays and cleaned her teeth, again putting her in a papoose. It took two of us to hold her down to put her in the papoose and an hour to get the xrays. The pediatric dentist says we should put a bridge in so she has a full set of teeth, so she doesn't get teased in school. At first i said ok.....so I made an appt. that happened to be two months later. during that time, we made a few visits to her pediatrician and eye dr. and she has become deathly afraid of going to the dr. now since the dentist incident. She wasnt like that before. I talked to her pediatrician, family and some friends about wether or not I should put my daughter through the dentist again right now for the bridge. Everyone says to forget it, even the pediatrician, because when she starts kindergarten, many other kids will be without teeth as well. A few friends kids have also had a few teeth pulled or some were knocked out during a fall and they chose not to put a bridge in. I called the ped. dentist and cancelled the appt. and they said i should really get it done for spacing issues, speech, etc. My daughter talks just fine without the one tooth and doesn't lisp. I really don't want to put my daughter through this again and want her to become comfortrable around dr.'s again. If need be, I can do the bridge in a year or two. Your thoughts on this? what would you do?|||i definately would not put her through this again right now. i would wait a couple of years...|||It's a milk tooth. Why torture her?|||Sounds like the dentist is getting a kickback from another dental practitioner to me. They get a percentage of what the other person takes in for every referral. My nephew had both of his front teeth knocked out in a car accident when he was about 2. The dentist just said to keep an eye on the space and to keep bringing him in for his check ups. When he was about 6 his permanent teeth came in and yes one was crooked but that was easily remedied a few years later. Your daughter may not need a bridge later on, and right now she certainly doesn't need one.|||Yikes, what a dilemma! I changed my mind back and forth three times while reading your question. I have a two year old boy, so I was trying to decide what I would do if this was happening to him. Here's my advice. I would get a second opinion from another pediatric dentist. The only thing that worries me is what they said about spacing issues. The pediatrician is a trusted opinion, but again I go back to spacing issues and speech issues (which could become an issue even though it isn't currently) that the ped dentist (specialist!) mentioned. I certainly wouldn't do it just so she doesn't get teased in school, because as you pointed out, kids are starting to loose their teeth at that age. Then of course you don't want to traumatize your baby again.





That's why I would talk to another specialist, about whether those things are of major concern. I just don't know. Sorry I wasn't much help. Good luck.