Wobbly Tooth!

Part of the new fall schedule is that Dexy and I go to Baker's Square on Wednesdays after school and before Tae Kwon Do for dinner and free pie. A couple of weeks ago, Dex asked on our drive over what it feels like when you lose a tooth.  I couldn't get him to tell me why he was thinking about that but I described how it felt for me and told him that it would happen to him too but probably not for another year or so.

Last Thursday, Ben and Dexy and I went to Famous Dave's to use a coupon for a free dinner before its expiration date and Dexter ordered "Kids Ribs". He loves the meat but doesn't want to eat it off the bone so Ben cut the meat up and Dexy ate it with a fork. At one point, he said, "Ow! I hit my tooth with my fork!"  But he kept eating and didn't complain further, there was no blood or sign of physical injury so we forgot all about it until...

On Friday I noticed that Dexter's lower right front tooth seemed to be out of place.  Ben checked it and sure enough, his tooth was loose! After we put Dex to bed, Ben and I googled "losing baby teeth" like crazy. There was general agreement that kids lose their first tooth around age 6 although there can be tremendous variation. Since Dex isn't yet 5 and because the tooth was loosened through an incident, we decided that we would call the dentist in the morning.

On Saturday, Ben called the dentist before he left for work and explained the situation - they said we could bring him in at noon that day or wait until Monday but that everything would probably be fine if the tooth fell out.  When I got back from work late Saturday morning, I took Dexy over to the dentist just to make sure there wasn't anything else wrong and that his grown up teeth would come in OK.  Dex was nervous to go to the dentist. "I don't want her to pull it out!"  When we got there, I explained to the dentist what had happened and that I would like for them to look at it but not to pull it. Dex seemed relieved to hear me say that.

Dex emerged from the examination area covered in stickers and the dentist explained that everything looked fine and that not only will he loose that first "wobbly" tooth (as Dex calls it) but that the one next to it would also come out soon. Tears welled up in my eyes and I said, "I remember when those teeth came in."  "I know, they grow up fast, don't they," she replied with a sympathetic pat on my shoulder.