The $120 Tooth

Here it is, in all its glory.

A few months ago we decided it was time for some of the kids to visit the dentist. Since then I have spent more time in the dentist office than I care to think about. Dental exams/cleaning on five kids (no cavities, by the way, so I guess we can be thankful for that) have led to appointments for sealants on 3 of the kids, and tooth removal on one. When the 2 oldest girls went in for their cleanings, the dentist pointed out that they both had adult teeth coming in when the baby tooth wasn't out yet. Oldest daughter's baby tooth was loose, but the adult tooth was coming in high out of her gum and the tooth needed to come out soon. Same with my younger daughter, but her tooth wasn't loose and her adult tooth isn't coming in quite so high. The dentist gave them both 2 months to get the baby tooth out on their own.

Well. Oldest daughter wiggled and wiggled and had the tooth out in about 2 weeks (typical overachiever). Since then she has been applying pressure to the tooth that was already in and it seems to be moving just a bit into the right position. Younger daughter, on the other hand, couldn't seem to even get her tooth loose. I couldn't either. That stupid thing would not budge.

So I made her an appointment to have it taken out. In retrospect, I guess we could have waited another few months--the tooth next to it was getting loose so I think it would have come out eventually.




Boy am I glad we got that tooth out. Gee, it surely wasn't ready to come out on its own. Good grief. Look at it. It is just a little shell of a tooth. No root to speak of, just a sharp jag, which may explain why it bled every time she tried to wiggle it.



The hole in the tooth had to have happened when they pulled it because it wasn't there before.

Ah, all is well. It couldn't have happened to a better kid, as far as pain goes. This is the same kid that can get slivers and ticks pulled out and never blink an eye. She claims she didn't even feel the numbing shot and nothing hurt at all. Beforehand, I tried to convince her that it probably wouldn't hurt much to just have the dentist yank the tooth out with no numbing, but she wouldn't go for it. Baby.