I am sorry to hear that your son injured his tooth in school.
There can be many causes for tooth discoloration but from what you have described, your son's tooth has most likely started to turn grey as a result of the trauma from the knock.
Trauma to the tooth may cause the nerve inside the tooth to bruise and to eventually die.
When the tooth dies, sometimes an infection could set in, and if that happens, the infection could spread to the underlying developing adult tooth.
This could in turn result in some developmental malformation of the adult tooth, if the infection is not treated.
I would recommend that you bring your son to see a dentist who is good with children to have his injured tooth assessed.
Depending on what is discovered during the dental appointment, possible treatment options could be:
1. To do nothing and to observe
2. To perform a root canal treatment for the tooth
3. To extract the tooth
For your son, depending on his level of maturity, it can be quite daunting to see the dentist.
It is not unusual for a 4 year old to be fearful and to have dental anxiety. It might be very difficult for your son to sit still during a root canal procedure or to have the tooth extracted. It might also be very difficult for your son to accept having an injection into his gum to have the tooth numbed for treatment.
Prepare him as best as you can with storybooks and do find a dentist that your son can trust and have rapport with! I hope this information helps!
Kind Regards,
Dr Gerald Tan
