I always knew...

When Taylor was four and a half years old she came to me one day and told me that her tooth was loose. "What do you mean your tooth is loose?" was my response. "Did you fall and hit it? Did you bite something to make it loose? Where on earth am I going to find a dentist to see you on such short notice when you aren't a patient of record? Do we even have dental insurance? Don't be silly, of course we have dental insurance; now where is that card."

After much deliberation the consensus was in. There had to have been some sort of trauma and she was going to loose her first tooth. "No a spacer isn't necessary" was the dentist reply. "The permanent tooth will appear in a couple of years." A couple of years, you've got to be kidding me. She's going to be without a tooth for a couple of years.

Little did I know that this was just the first of a long, long dental journey with my girls. Sure enough that tooth did fall out and she was the envy of the car pool to Pre-K. Where the dentist was mistaken was it wasn't going to take a couple years for that tooth to be replaced. Within a couple weeks, yes weeks, her permanent tooth had broken through the gum. Thus causing me to wonder why I even paid for X-rays if they weren't going to be taken. I mean it is SO OBVIOUS in a X-ray when a permanent tooth is about to emerge.

And so it is right at four years and thirteen teeth later, I mean twelve and a half teeth later. Yes you heard me right twelve and A HALF. How do you lose half a tooth you might ask? Well if it is to be done leave it to my children to find a way.

Over the holidays Taylor mentioned her tooth was pink. I looked at it and after doing some research I came to the conclusion it was the blood vessels rupturing as her permanent tooth was coming in under the gums. She was about to loose tooth number thirteen.

Friday morning excitement rang through the air. "I lost my tooth" I heard Taylor shout. When she showed me the tooth I realized that it was only a fragment of a tooth. There in her mouth remained the other half of her tooth. Not sure what had happened or if the base to the tooth remained and would need to be extracted I called the dentist.

Dialing over and over waiting for the answering system to be turned off I was becoming more frustrated by the second. At six after eight in the morning my patience had wore thin. Finally listening to the entire message I realized that it was Friday and the office is closed on Fridays. I would need to go through the after hours answering service.

She would need to be seen by a colleague of her dentist and if a procedure needed to be done her dentist would come in and perform it. Another X-ray (this time I actually saw it) and the verdict was in. No the base was not still attached. No we aren't sure why the other half is still there, "but what happened Mrs. Hawthorne is that as the roots dissolved, the tooth became weak in the middle, and with the permanent tooth moving upward the tooth broke in half, causing her to loose half of her tooth."

I can't remember the last time Taylor has ever asked to go to school so many times. Well, wait a minute, yes I can...never! I couldn't even get a tiny smile when I asked the dentist what he thought about loosing a half of a tooth; did it mean that the tooth fairy would only bring half of the money? Taylor didn't find me amusing at all. That's okay, I thought it was funny and so did the dentist.

Thankfully we didn't have to have another Hawthorne tooth extraction story. Thankfully she is alright and isn't in any pain. Thankfully last week is over! Have you ever heard of such a thing?

It is always fun when you (or your child) are the patient that doctors (or dentists) get excited about when working on because the situation is so unique they are intrigued by it. Apparently the tooth Taylor is half way on her way to loosing isn't suppose to be lost until she is around twelve years old. I always knew she was advanced.