Front Teeth Tales

Remember the little song, "All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth"?

How about losing two front teeth?

My six-year-old has four new permanent teeth in. However, the four baby teeth that were replaced took their time coming out. In fact, the permanent teeth came in behind the baby teeth.

Now, that wasn't so bad for the bottom ones. But the top? After two months of having four top front teeth, JD was sitting in the dentist's office. The dentist took one look and said, "The baby teeth have to come out ASAP."

What does that mean? It means my six-year-old has to go to a "special dentist", go under anesthesia and be put to sleep, and have his teeth pulled.

Not nice.

So we had the consultation with the "special dentist." When I asked about what type of mask I could use to practice with JD, he generously gave me one. For a couple of days leading up to the appointment, we practiced "breathing" through the mask for anesthesia. We even counted while holding the mask.

It's all about preparation.

The big day came--no eating any food or drinking any water from midnight the night before. At 7:35 a.m. we were at the office, the first appointment of the day. After I signed all the paperwork describing what could go wrong (!), JD did GREAT!

He counted to 30 with the mask; I was kicked out of the room so they could do the procedure; 15 to 20 minutes later he was waking up and the teeth were in my purse. And he didn't get sick or anything.

Whew!

He did better with it than I did, I think.

How many more baby teeth to go? Twelve?

"Father, I ask in the name of Jesus that the rest of JD's baby teeth come out easily on their own!"

Amen.

Till next time,
Jeanette