Those Pearly Whites

Yesterday, Edward went to the dentist for the very first time since 2006 when he shoved his tooth up into his gum. Now before you judge and say shame on you for just now taking him...he was very traumatized be the whole gum in the tooth ordeal and the fact that it had to be surgically removed, that we felt it was best to wait until he was old enough to understand that going to the dentist was a good thing. There was also the fact that I do not feel that parents should be made to wait in the waiting room while their children are taken back to a room where you can't see what it happening to them or comfort them if they are scared. We also just had a news story about a dentist for children that was using harnesses to strap the children down to the chairs and doing other scary things to the children...this is a place that made the parents stay in the waiting room. Edward has already been traumatized enough by having to have his tooth surgically removed at 3yrs and 3 months that we just didn't want it to be further compounded by another scary or bad situation with the dentist.
I digress....I had taken Edward to get his hair cut yesterday afternoon (He had cut his bangs, so I needed it corrected) and remembered that I wasn't that far from a Children's Dentistry Office I had since coming home from the movies recently. I decided to go by see if they were taking new patients, if they took our dental insurance and what their policy about parents going in with the children was. Talk about fate....they said they were taking new patients, they took our dental insurance, and their policy was that they encouraged parents to go back with their children and oh! By The Way....we've had 3 cancellations for this time would you like to have him seen today?
Yes, why not....in my mind that way he wouldn't have time to fret about it. So they saw him. They cleaned his teeth, took x-rays, flossed his teeth, counted them and put a fluoride treatment on them (I know I have read all the issues about fluoride treatments....but I grew up taking them and I am fine, I feel people freak out to much about certain things). He was given an A+ report all around. NO CAVITIES!!!!! The teeth in relation of top to bottom line up is excellent. He has 3 of his 6 yr molars about to bust through (1 actually is already poking through)...the 4th one hasn't dropped down yet. We are so pleased with this report.

Edward waiting in the dentist chair!
Edward getting his teeth cleaned by the Hygienist.

All I want is my Front Teeth!

Edward lost his two bottom teeth today! The first one I am not sure where it went...well, actually I am but I don't think we will be able to retrieve it or even want to. I am 90% sure he swallowed it when he was either eating breakfast this morning or lunch this afternoon. I wasn't aware that it was missing until well after lunch was over. He said to me "Mommy look at my mouth!" and when I did I saw that one tooth was missing. I tore apart the beds and the house frantically looking for his tiny little bottom tooth. No success! So I checked the loose one next to it, and saw that it was extremely loose. Not wanting to take a chance of having no tooth, I did what I swore I wouldn't do...I pulled it! It came out with no effort and a little blood. We gargled and all was better. Tooth went into the Tooth Fairy Box and Edward got his present the next day in the form of a set of Morphs (animals with inter-exchangeable parts...we bought the African set). Below is a picture of Edwards newest smile!

Its Loose!!!!

Well it's official Edward has his first loose tooth. He freaked out about it. He cried for about an hour or a little longer. I think it has a lot to do with when he fell and rammed his front tooth up into his gum, having to have emergency surgery to remove it. He isn't very keen on the idea of loosing his teeth needless to say. We tried everything to let him know it is okay. I guess next week during school, we will be learning about teeth and that it is natural to loose them at his age.