An eleven-year-old schoolgirl has smashed eight of her teeth out after falling from a climbing frame and hitting her mouth. Jeni Nichol was involved in the accident while on a three-day adventure trip with her classmates at Lea Green, Derbyshire; two of her teeth were instantly knocked out and another six were so badly damaged that they had to be removed at a later date by surgeons at the Royal Derby Hospital.
Jeni, who attends Ashbrook Junior School, said, ‘I was going across the apparatus. They said try not to touch the grass, so I tried to step on the wooden step and then overbalanced myself. I hit my face on the edge of the step and screamed. There was a lot of blood and a lot of pain.’ The schoolgirl was then panicked at the sight of the blood and screamed for assistance; teacher, Mrs Lee said ‘There was blood everywhere. They tried to wire the teeth to her gum but all the sockets were smashed to bits so they couldn’t. She had to stay in hospital for four days and was on a drip.’
Six of the lost teeth were her adult teeth, leaving Jeni with the prospect of wearing a denture permanently – although the swelling is still so severe that dentists cannot say whether this will be an option for her.
A spokesperson for Derbyshire Country Council said that ‘We’ve carried out a thorough investigation following the accident which found that all proper safety measures had been carried out, the equipment had been checked, and appropriate supervision was in place. Lea Green has an excellent safety record but adventurous activities do carry an element of risk.’