Pearly Whites

Around 5:30 yesterday we had a little excitement enter our lives. The kids were outside jumping on the trampoline when, without any warning, Kayl's left front tooth decided it would like to play with Tristyn's hard head. Unfortunately, Tristyn's head wasn't in the mood for games and Kayl's tooth was promptly tossed to the ground....root and all.

Poor Kayl ran screaming and bleeding into the house where he deposited the tooth in my hand. I quickly rinsed it under the tap and stuck it back in the empty space in his mouth. "Looks like someone needs a trip to the ER!!!" Good Times.

We drove (in traffic) to the Dental Hospital on Foster. When we finally arrived around 6:30 they had to call the dentist in from Courtney. So we waited for him to drive (in traffic) to check out Kayl's mouth. In the meantime they took x-rays and we filled out paperwork.

When the dentist finally showed, he took a look at Kayl and his x-rays and called me back. It seems the root on Kayl's tooth is about HALF the size of that on a normal tooth. His other teeth look fine, but this one....not so great. At first the dentist thought perhaps there had been a prior trauma to the tooth, but said that when he looked closer it just looked like it never developed correctly.

So there I was, in an empty dental hospital ( save for Kayl and I, the dentist, and two aids) explaining how at three Kayl knocked his baby tooth on his grandma's coffee table and it died. Could that have caused trauma to the adult tooth forming behind? Or perhaps it is hereditary, and it never developed because of that little "missing teeth" thing that runs on daddy's side of the family.

Whatever the case, the prognosis for Kayl's tooth was not good. Because the root is so small they were going to have a difficult time getting the tooth to stay put, and even then there was a chance the tooth wouldn't be able to "take hold" again.

They worked for 2 hours attempting to splint his tooth into place. Kayl now has a lovely little piece of wire glued to his four front teeth. We have to go back in two weeks to see if they were indeed able to save the tooth. If not they will have to pull it and replace it.

Kayl did really really well. He took the time to focus and breathe through the shots. And he didn't freak out when the dentist had to push his tooth into place. He told me on the ride home that he really liked this dentist because other dentists would tell you that something wasn't going to hurt, but it would. This one was honest and told Kayl everything he was doing and why.

A little good news in all this: Kayl's two front teeth are now aligned and the dentist told us that the rest of his teeth look great so he should never need braces.

Bad news?: This has renewed my deep desire to go to dental school. I can't explain why I have always been so fascinated by the dental field...but I am. Who knows. Maybe I'll go someday. Anything is possible, right?

I'll keep you updated on Kayl's tooth!