At 06:47 PM 7/5/2010, you wrote:
>Has anyone had any experience with a nursing toddler who needed to have
>teeth extracted?  I apologize for asking a question about my own child but I
>cannot find any information about this and don't think it's very common.

My n = 1 sample is my daughter. About a week after she turned 3, she
and her older (very hard-headed) brother had a high speed head-mouth
collision---8 pm the night before she was to start preschool. Her two
front teeth were knocked from their sockets but still in the gum. It
was impossible to nurse with her teeth askew; she couldn't even close
her jaw. The pediatric dentist on call said to leave things be for
the night and see his partner right away in the morning. He thought
it might be possible for her to jiggle them back into the sockets. As
soon as she saw them, however, she said they'd have to come out.

My daughter was still nursing several times per day and neither of us
was prepared to wean. I asked the dentist about whether nursing would
be okay and---what a great dentist!---she didn't so much as bat an
eyelash. She said to just follow my daughter's lead. If she wanted to
nurse, it was fine to do so. My daughter's gum looked horribly mashed
and gory, but there was very little additional bleeding with the
extraction since the majority of the damage was done the night before.

She took up nursing again about 24 hours after the collision. She
didn't skip a beat. She was completely over the extractions before we
even got home. I, on the other hand, had to do a few adjustments.
With that big gap in front, she was kind of fanged in a "I want to
drink your blood" way. But we made it though and she nursed for
several more months.

Good luck with your son. I hope the extractions go smoothly, he heals
quickly, and nursing is rapidly back on track.

regards,
Julia

Julia R. Barrett
Science Writer & Editor in the Life Sciences
Madison, Wisconsin
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