A (Long) Tooth Story

Shortly after we moved into our current house, Scott slipped on our wood flooring and hit his front teeth.  They turned a bit dark over time, but this has disappeared as he's grown.  When Natalie was 2, she followed in her brother's footsteps, fell on the hard floor, and hit her front teeth.  Hers turned a bit darker, but seemed okay up until last week.  

On Friday night, I took the kids to get their picture taken.  (See pic above.)  Once I put the kids to bed, I was looking online at the images from the photo session.  Natalie's smile looked off to me.  I zoomed in on the picture and saw that her lip was puffy.  I'm not sure how I missed this while she was awake.  Sure enough, the next morning she woke in quite a bit of pain from an abscess above one of her dead front teeth.  Saturday was the day of the predicted major snow storm, and we called the dentist just as the snow started to fall.  He called in an antibiotic and told us he would see us when his office reopened...whenever that would be.  Thankfully, we were able to get it filled and get her started on the medicine before the storm.  It helped us make it until Wednesday, when they finally opened again for business.

At our dentist, the kids are usually given 1 or 2 tokens after their cleanings as a reward.  It's not a good sign when they give your child 4 tokens before they even begin doing any work.  Natalie was uncharacteristically nervous and quiet.  We couldn't really prepare her well since we didn't know what to expect.  All I knew was that I've had some dental work that was comparable in pain to natural childbirth, and I prayed that Natalie would not have to go through that.  

After an x-ray, we were told that the infection was large, and that her best bet would be a pulpotomy- which is basically a root canal on a baby tooth.  They would give her a shot in the gums to numb the area, drill a hole in the back of the tooth, remove the pulp and affected nerves, fill it with medicine, and then seal it back up.  (The dentist had reasons for doing this over just pulling the tooth prematurely.)  So, three year old Natalie sat there with wide eyes while they worked away.  She was so brave, and the staff (and her parents) were amazed!  She looked sort of traumatized afterwards but was happy to spend her well earned tokens in the junk machine.  

We made it to the van, and then the big tears came.  She cried most of the way home.  :(  It is TERRIBLE to see your child in pain.  TERRIBLE.  She took her last dose of medicine today and seems to have made a good recovery.  Her tooth will most likely turn an even darker shade now, but thankfully it will come out in a few years.

Yes, this is a long post about a dental procedure, but it was a big deal for us recently.  We praise God for Natalie's ability to get through this.  She may never willfully walk back into that dentist office again, but we are glad that at least this is behind us. 

Now I cringe every time Kate slips on the hard floor.  Currently, Kate is the only family member whose front teeth have not been damaged by a fall/injury.  Her odds are not good, but we're hoping for the best!:)