Baby Teeth by Terra Smith

Mia’s two front teeth repeatedly loosen then tighten back up.  It's been going on for the last eight or nine months.  This is due to her mitochondrial dysfunction, diagnosed in 2013.  The last cycle ended with her front teeth slanting forward.

I called her biomedical doctor.  He said other children under his care have the same problem.  He went on to say that the cycle of loosening and tightening baby teeth lasted as long as five to six years for some of the kids he treated.  So, something will have to be done eventually.  Mia’s options are limited.   She can't take a local anesthetic because of her allergies.  An anesthetist will have to put her to sleep.

Lately, one of her teeth became very loose. We wiggled it about once an hour to help it along.  She talked about getting her tooth out. I encouraged her to wiggle it with her finger without my help.  Then, I started seeing all these strings hanging from the door knobs.

I talked to her about the strings and that maybe we should use one to loosen her tooth more.  She said yes.  I asked her if she wanted me to pull it.  She answered, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

I pulled on the string.  The tooth came out of her gum but was attached to one small piece of flesh. There was a little bit of blood.  She started into a melt-down asking for a Band-Aid.  I situated her tooth with gauze.  It took me an hour and an half of explaining that Band-Aids can't go on a tooth in the mouth.  Mia was glad to share the news when the bleeding stopped, “Yea. It's not bleeding.  See.”

When I offered to pull it the rest of the way out,  she objected, "I'm scared.  I'm scared."

All the next morning we talked about her tooth.  We talked about the tooth fairy only paying her a visit once the tooth was out. Later that afternoon, Craig came home.  I talked Mia into putting another string around it.  She wasn't happy with that but kept saying that she wanted it out.  She came up with the idea of biting an apple.  With where the tooth was, that didn't seem like a good idea.  So, we stuck with the string. We prepared for the worse.  Craig and the therapist stood ready in support... I pulled. The tooth came loose.  We looked at Mia.

She said, "Oh my gosh.  Thank you.  Thank you."

When we rinsed out her mouth, she saw blood.  Her eyes teared up.  On the third rinse, all the blood was gone and her tears went away.

All that talk about the tooth fairy created problem that required me and Craig to re-write fairy standard practice.  If Mia put the tooth under her pillow, we couldn't remove it without waking her.  Mia still sleeps in an enclosed specialty bed. We talked her into leaving the tooth under a pillow on the night stand.

Video of her waking up after a visit from the Tooth Fairy is coming soon..