My little trooper

This morning my toddler experienced yet another first – his first trip to the dentist. His pediatrician recommended that he go for his first check-up at 18 months, but I thought that was a bit early. However, the other day he was helping hubby and I when we were working in the front beds. I was working on one side of the driveway and hubby was working on the other. Bug-a-Boo kept running back and forth between us “helping”. He was having a grand time until he tripped and fell face-first into the concrete. When he stood up weeping, his mouth was full of blood. I brought him in and comforted him, and he calmed down. Hubby and I rinsed out his mouth and agreed to watch him, but assumed he was okay.

In the days since then, several times when he has fallen, (He’s at that age where he falls a lot no matter how closely we supervise him.) although there has been no more blood, he has pointed to his teeth and said “ouch”. Last night I looked closely and noticed that one didn’t quite look right. So this morning I called and got him into a dentist. It turns out that one of his front teeth is indeed chipped and a little loose. She said it isn’t anything to really worry about – no nerve is exposed and it will tighten back up, but she warned me that in the next few days, that tooth may turn gray, before eventually turning back close to its original color! Yikes! I’m glad I had it looked at or that REALLY would have had me panicked if it happened. She also told me some things to watch for that could be signs of infection which would warrant further work. Even though the bottom line was to just keep an eye on it, I’m glad to know what to watch for.

While I am sure the dentist’s office is not on his list of favorite places, Bugster was a real trooper through the whole thing. He even let them take a couple x-rays with only a minor protest, although it took the dentist and three assistants to do so! (I couldn’t hold him for the x-ray since I’m pregnant.) While we were waiting for the dentist, he had showed the assistant a picture of Curious George that he was working on coloring and a book about trucks that he was reading. When we finished, she gave him a tiny toy truck and a pack of Curious George stickers. I was very pleased that she picked up on what he likes. That seemed to make his day, so hopefully he won’t mind when it’s time for his next check-up.