When the scrimmage began your son got sacked. To make an all too familiar story short an elbow landed in his mouth and two of his bottom teeth broke out. They might have been able to re-implant the teeth if another team mate didn't step on them. Ugh! It was awful. This otherwise normal part of summer suddenly turned into an ordeal.
There was bleeding, blaming and bad feelings all around. Finally everyone realized that contact sports are never without risks. There was nothing left to do but visit the Emergency Room. The attending physician sutured the gums after removing small fragments of debris from the football field. The radiology department took x-rays of the neck and face. The young resident looked over the films and said that he didn't think there were any other bone injuries. Your son was prescribed antibiotics and sent home.
Although the injury did not pose any further health risk there was still negative emotional impact. You couldn't look at him without wincing and his father muttered about ending his football career. Your son became a hermit canceling all social contact that he would otherwise have been eagerly preoccupied with. The whole family turned morose. The summer was almost ruined.
Well after the mouth injury healed there was the gap to fill before the many important events of high school senior year and of course commencement. Modern dentistry to the rescue. Luckily the family dentist was able to work your son in and plan for implant surgery to bridge the newly created gap in his bottom teeth.
It takes two basic procedures after the initial consultation. The first appointment allowed for the implantation of posts which would anchor the artificial teeth in place. The second appointment allowed the dentist to inspect the healing and then affix the new teeth. The entire thing was relatively quick. The smile that had faced the first day of school for 12 years was once again restored. So was your son's love of football.
The first step in any sports program needs to be taking safety precautions seriously. Mouth guards and chin straps do provide a lot of protection from facial injuries. The second step is for parents, teachers and coaches to strictly enforce rules requiring the use of safety gear.
The last step is to keep your dentist's emergency phone number close at hand and hope that you never need to use it. Implant dentist Toronto area has most of the answers to this and other perplexing dental situations. Do not hesitate to correct smile problems before they become confidence killing features.