Tooth Silliness

Last night, Erik knocked one of his front teeth with his knee (don't ask) which hurt a lot , and also it started bleeding. He even said he could wiggle it, which I didn't quite believe until he actually showed it to me and I couldn't ignore it any longer.

I thought it was a baby tooth, but my hubby was convinced it was a grownup tooth, as were Erik, and his other siblings. Yes, I know that with my first kids, I would have known exactly which teeth had been changed already. But I have to admit that with number six I mostly knew that yes, he did lose some teeth a while ago, but I have no idea which ones.

Of course, this morning was full of all kinds of doctors visits and passport applications and other stuff, so I didn't get back to the tooth till the afternoon.

Erik, walking over to me 'My tooth still hurts.'
Me, in a hopeful voice 'Did it stop wiggling at least?'
Erik, demonstrating 'Nope, it didn't. See, it still wiggles!'
Me, still hopeful 'Maybe it is one of your baby teeth?'
Erik 'No, I am SURE it is a grownup tooth!'
Me, not wanting to admit defeat, and looking for support for my hypothesis, asking the other kids 'Do you guys remember which teeth Erik lost already?'
The other kids, in a very convincing way 'We are so totally sure that this is one of the teeth Erik has lost and replaced by grownup teeth. If we are wrong, we will clean the house from top to bottom!' (OK, maybe they didn't say the last sentence, but it would have been awfully nice if they had)



Over the years, I have learned that sometimes the only thing you can do is give in and hope for the best, so I called the dentist. After asking me a few questions, and putting me on hold to listen to awful dentist music, they told me to bring him in right now.

I really loved getting out into the snow again, after spending my morning driving around everywhere. But I didn't feel I had much choice, and by now I was pretty much sure it was a grownup tooth that was loose. So all kinds of horrible scenarios were flashing through my head, Erik having to live out the rest of his life with one of his front teeth missing with associated crap to go with it.

We got to the dentist and waited and waited and waited. Erik spent the time to read a bunch of books, he enjoyed practicing his reading. I just waited and worried, just like a good mother should do. OK, maybe I also was reading a book.

The dentist came out, took one quick peek, and told us that this was a baby tooth. Nice seeing us, now go home and stop bothering us. OK, maybe he didn't say that, but my mommy guilt read that in him, feeling really silly to take a kid in for a loose baby tooth. I mean, what kind of mother doesn't even KNOW which teeth of her kids are baby teeth and which are not. He showed me how to tell the difference, so hopefully this will not happen again.

I felt silly, but on the other hand, I am glad we did get it checked out. And I suspect and hope that I am not the very first parent ever to come in loose baby tooth. Heck, they even might have a paper with tally marks somewhere on the wall, showing that we were occurence #666 of this phenonema.