Busted Lip & Bruised Gum

We had a really nice family day yesterday. We ate lunch at Moe's (which Amelia now calls Moses for some reason). They had Mickey Mouse memory cards there and she swiped some of daddy's queso, so she was really having a ball at lunch! I noticed and commented aloud that she is doing so much better at sitting in her chair now, too. Yay! She only got down to "hide" her drink and then to swipe daddy's queso - very purposeful actions, not just random getting down for no reason.

Then we went to our local nature center since we're members. The weather has turned nice (about time!) and I thought it would be an excellent opportunity for Amelia to just run free and for us to all enjoy the nice day. She had a ball going down the slide they have and was really interested in the otter (normally she could care less about anything there ... she just likes to run free). Then we headed down the path and she decided to climb the steps of the outdoor ampitheatre. There was a path at the top that went down to meet the path we were originally on, so I encouraged her to go that way. She took off running and just as I was thinking of calling "Slow down!" and didn't because I was worrying that might cause her to trip and fall because she'd probably turn around mid-stride and say, "What?" she fell down hard. There was blood pouring from her mouth and my first thought was, "Well, it's our first busted lip," scooped her up and headed to the bathroom knowing that busted lips usually just look really bad. We cleaned it up, I noticed she didn't have any scrapes on her knees, elbows, palms or chin so I thought we got off pretty lucky. We stopped in at the office for ice, which she didn't like. She wanted a band-aid on it, though, and I told her you can't really put band-aids on lips. She did okay the rest of the day, ate dinner without a problem and most of the swelling was inside her lip. I did try wiggling her teeth last night and they seemed okay, so I sent her to bed.

This morning her bottom lip was puffier on the outside, she didn't want to eat her breakfast and cried out when she tried to use her sippy cup. I looked at her teeth more closely and noticed that her upper gum is definitely bruised and has swollen down over the top third of her front upper tooth. I am still trying to decide whether one of her teeth looks a little moved or not, but they all still seem to be firmly in place.

Part of me knows deep down that she'll be okay, but the mama part of me feels really bad, even though it was definitely the type of normal accident when a running child meets uneven pavement. I can't keep her in a bubble. I am going to try to get her in to see a dentist tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday morning. There are three pediatric dentists that have been recommended to me and a fourth that sends out mailings, so I am hoping one of them can see her and not charge us an astronomical emergency fee like one of the recommended ones did.

She hasn't been to a dentist yet, I've been putting it off since I wasn't sure how she would react to one. (Flimsy excuse, but I figured she might be completely uncooperative or decide she no longer enjoys brushing her teeth if she has a bad experience at the dentist, etc. etc. etc.) I am actually more worried about not getting an appointment within the next day or two than I am about what the dentist may say.

Some other parents I've spoken to have had similar experiences without bad outcomes, so that gave me hope. I did a little Internet research and didn't find anything about swollen gums in relation to a trauma, but I did find out that a month from now her tooth could turn dark because the inside if the tooth could bruise and it will take months to lighten back up. Yikes!! I think as a precaution I will get her 4 year pictures done when her lip heals. I'd rather have her pictures done five months early than have her with a brown/black tooth.

On the plus side, she has been sucking on ice pops without sensitivity and stuffed her mouth full of bread at supper, chewing it with no problems, so hopefully that means no tooth pain. She has been so sweet and so chatty today - her imagination is just abounding lately - it made her injury even more sad for me. When we put her to bed tonight she was laughing and we got a good look at her upper tooth and gum. I said I thought it looked like it had receded a little and also lightened up a little - more of a medium purple than a dark blue-purple - and her daddy agreed. I said, "Now you're sure, it's not just hopeful thinking on my part, right?" And he said that no, it looked better.

So here's hoping for the best. It's not how I wanted to introduce her to the dentist, but hopefully there's no bad news and it turns out to be a more or less standard visit.