A young boy’s front tooth has been ripped out while he was going down a children’s slide.

12 year-old Denis-Cristian Bulancea was playing with his friends at a sandpit in Beachfields in Kent. Near the sandpit, there is a castle slide and climbing frame. But the day took a turn when Denis’ tooth caught on a screw in the slide.

Mouth filling with blood, Denis ran to the nearby McDonalds where his father was working. Speaking to Kent Online Denis’ father, Dumitru-Daniel Bulancea said, “The staff called me back from a delivery and helped him until I arrived. His friends returned to look for the tooth, which had been pulled from his gum, and found it in the sand.”

The pair rushed to Medway Hospital’s accident and emergency department, but no dentists were on duty. Dumitru-Daniel had no other choice but to drive the 30 miles to Canterbury Hospital so that Denis could receive emergency surgery to reposition the tooth.

Post-surgery Denis is on painkillers and cannot consume solid foods for 10 days. It is hoped the tooth will ‘take’.

A council spokesman said to Kent Online, "We haven’t yet seen a report about an accident at the play area, so we’d ask the people concerned to please get in touch.

"The play area is inspected weekly by fully qualified staff members and is also visited quarterly by an external inspector and annually for an insurance inspection. In three years, none of these have raised any safety issues.

“We have only had one reported accident here since modifications were made in 2019 and the subsequent investigation found this was down to misuse. This is a popular park play area for families and is well-used by the community. We work hard to make sure our play areas are safe but the reality of play is that there is always an element of risk.”

Author: N/A