Toofless No More!

I remember it so clearly.

It was a Sabbath afternoon. We were all sitting around chatting after lunch and I was entering into the nap haze. After all, I was nearly 7 months pregnant and there were 3 other capable adults in the house! I'd already blocked off both staircase and stairwell from toddler access and my mind was at ease.

And then it happened.

The fall, the crash, the cry, the blood pouring from his mouth, the shrieking (that would be me).

At first I thought very little of the blood, thinking he had likely sunk a few teeth all the way through his little lip. It wasn't until the biggest of the sobs had faded away that there was this sudden, horrible moment of realization:

His front tooth...was MISSING!

Completely gone.

Nothing but a gaping hole there in his smile.

Not that he was smiling. Nor was I, for that matter.

And then my the sobs started back up again.

I'd like to say it was a very brief episode of maternal pregnant hormones but that would not capture the very essence of 30 minutes gut-wrenching sobs that erupted from my big 'ole pregnant self, now would it?

*sigh*

While I was busy comforting myself Joshua on my lap, someone decided to call the dentist.

"Put it back IN!", the dentist declared.

Um, okay?, I thought as I glanced back and forth between my baby's mouth and the tooth with the really long root.



We tried.

We did.

I know, right?! Looking back it stands as a painful memory of a dumb-parent moment.

It went most of the way in, but short of hammering it back into place, there was no way it was going to stay in. It sat there a quarter inch lower than the other tooth for about 10 minutes before we decided perhaps we should get a second opinion.

We called another dentist.

"Pull it back OUT!" the second dentist said.

Hmmm...

The tooth popped out into my hand like it was intending to do so anyway at some random time and get itself swallowed while we least expected it.

"It will heal over and he'll get his permanent tooth through in about 5 years or so.", explained Dentist #2. (translate: the bone will heal over and it will take the tooth an exceptionally long time to push its way through that to the gum!)

WHAT?!?! FIVE YEARS?!, I thought. Surely it won't take that long for his permanent tooth to drop down.

Or...

Maybe it will.

First toofless pic after The Incident

And so it did. Plus several a few extra months!

Well, HELLO! Mr. Toofer. Glad to FINALLY make your acquaintance!