First Dentist Visit, First Lost Tooth

Unfortunately... both were unexpected and a wee bit traumatic (for mother & daughter).

While running at her lightning pace on Wednesday, E took a spill into (thankfully, not down) the wooden front stairs (we think....). Heather (our amazing nanny) found her covered in blood and hysterical. After some TLC and further examination, it was clear her top, second tooth from center was barely hanging on.

This just happened to be my day in my downtown office. Upon receiving word I hopped in a cab and was home in no time to assess the damage... My examination, along with a call to the pediatrician, confirmed an emergency dental visit was in order.

We were referred to a great pediatric practice, Pine Dental, whom I called ASAP and booked an apt. for noon. Let's just say trying to keep the now-calmed-down Elynor from not jumping off furniture or eating non-liquid foods until noon was not fun. But even less fun was what transpired at the dentist. Despite the amazing children's facility and awesome staff, Elynor seemed to know something was up from the minute we walked into the exam room. She screamed and squirmed (while her mama tried to hold her and hold back her own tears) during the initial exam and x-rays. The dentist confirmed there was no salvaging the right, 2nd tooth from top center and that the front 2 teeth had also been moved. Following their consult, we decided to have them remove the 2nd tooth and "reposition" the front two, giving them the greatest chance of survival. PRAISE GOD Rye could get there in time for this... as he and Heather had to hold the screaming/wiggling Elynor during this traumatic (the dentist's word) procedure. Though they gave her local anesthesia, I hear it was not a pretty site. This time I waited in the lobby w/ some of my own tears, knowing my own instability would not help E.

As awful as these events sound, it's amazing how resilient kids are. Really, after her nap that afternoon E showed signs of her same playful spirit. And really, now just has a sorta puffy top lip to show.

While this is a praise, it makes it a little more tricky for Rye & I to enforce the doc's orders to try to "save" the front 2 teeth - think soft foods and gentle play (yea, right?!) for at least the next week... oh, and several more dentists visits in the coming months to see if they're adjusting and that there's no infection, etc. Our hope is that we'll be in the 20% and those middle 2 teeth start growing healthily in their new positions. If they don't, they'll also have to be removed and E will have a more obvious gap until her permanent teeth come in (around age 7). We're a smoothie, yogurt, tofu, ice cream, baby food loving home for now... and giving thanks our emergency was not something with much more serious long-term consequences!

Will try to post pics in the coming days.