to make a long story short, my 4 year old son had dental surgery on his two front teeth 2 years ago. last week he hit his teeth on his brothers head and now because he is in pain and possibly has an infection in the gums the dentist wants to pull his two front teeth out.
Moms I am so scared for my son, how will he be treated by others? How will I handle the looks other moms will through our way?
Please if anyone has been through this I need advice.
Thank you
Thank you everyone for your comments, we just went back to the dentist and we are going to keep our eyes on the teeth and try to keep them as long as we can.
One more thing, in my post I put how do I handle the looks from other moms? I put this because kids can be cruel but it is parents that are worse, my son has gotten weird and nasty looks from other moms because his teeth are not as "perfect" as their kids. It breaks my heart every time a mother looks at my son with a disgusted look.
So for moms that have done this, please think about feelings
I have been to some dentists who are just trying to make money by pulling teeth. However, it sounds like these are baby teeth, and in that case, it might be best to pull them. The permanent teeth will grow in and from what I have heard, be less apt to be crooked or damaged having pulled the problematic baby teeth.
How will he be treated from others? I am so unclear on that statement. He is close to five, where the time of him losing teeth is common, so not sure why anyone would say anything? He will grow in his permenant teeth soon enough.
I guess I am wondering why you would worry about any other mom? Kids loose teeth, he is probably one of MANY children that have had bumps on their mouth causing issue with their teeth. If helping ease the pain and discomfort and damage by pulling them, the least thing should be worrying about what anyone would think. Make it fun, have the tooth fairy come and just talk to him.
If in fact his permenant tooth doesn't grow in due to damage, they have veneers and fake teeth that nobody could tell the difference.
I had a boy in my class back in the old days that hit his mouth and had two gold caps on his front teeth, nobody said anything but how cool it was! :)
Kids can be brutal however doing home child care it is a right of passage losing teeth around here. If you do not make it a big deal it won't be, most kids will probably be envious as I know my four year old is so excited about the prospect of losing teeth like his big sister has!
Don't worry so much. It may be a painful procedure initially but as long as you have a dentist you can trust it will all be okay.
Too ironic that I picked this one to read. I myself lost both my front teeth in a snowmobile accident when I was 4. I had damaged the roots of my baby teeth so badly that they HAD to be pulled. That was decided after the Dentist said to leave them alone for a week or so and see if they tighten back up. This was back in the 80's, and at that time the dentist thought it would be more painful to use some novacaine.......Yeah..OUCH!!! Anyway, my youngest son had a slip in the back of my pickup and mashed only one of his baby teeth. We did the whole X-ray thing and watched it. Other than it got turned sort of sideways after the mashing, it never did anything. Until it came time to fall out, then it came out root and all. I wish now I'd had it looked at sooner, His adult tooth STILL hasn't come in, 5 odd yrs after loosing the baby tooth. X-rays show the adult tooth sitting up in the socket, but without serious orthodontic intervention, we won't know if it's even a healthy tooth. Oh yeah, BTW, my adult teeth came in fine. So , hopefully this gives you an idea of how quick intervention can help or fix what may become an even more serious problem farther down the road.
Where there is a possible infection, you should get his teeth pulled ASAP. Serious mouth infections can so easily get into the blood or the brain and cause so much worse damage than a few looks or words from other people EVER would. Besides, you have a boy child....the worst may be yet to come (you should hear the broken bones, hay hook stabbed toes and farming equipment amputation stories I hear about my hubby & his brothers until they all passed 10 yrs old) Good Luck and remember, this is an easy fix for what could very well turn into a huge problem.
Candice - my daughter bumped her front teeth as a toddler and by age 4 one of them was totally black! They watched it in x-rays and when it appeared that it may be infected, the dentist wanted to pull it. Needless to say, I freaked out! I didn't want my "baby" going through that. I even took her to my dentist to have a second opinion. Anyway, the people in the office assured me that it happens all of the time and that it was just baby teeth that she would begin losing within the next few years anyway. If she didn't have the tooth pulled, it could affect her permanent teeth (which were waiting in the wings already).
I found out after talking to others, that losing the front teeth early because of these accidents. It seemed like so many moms had stories to tell about one child or the other who had this happen - I doubt you will get any looks from other moms. Better to protect future looks from rotten permanent teeth than worry about missing baby ones.
It ended up being harder for me then her - the pediatric dentist was so great with my daughter - she felt no pain! AND she was so mature about the whole thing.
Treat your son like this is the coolest thing to have his teeth pulled - get a toothfairy pillow and make it a really fun event. (we gave my daughter a dollar for her tooth because it had been pulled). Also, when he is in kindergarten (I'm assuming next year) the other kids will be jealous that he has already lost his front two teeth! (at that age, it is so exciting to lose teeth).
Best of luck - I have been there! You are not alone. I hope all goes well.
Don't freak out. Get a second opinion to make sure it's the right thing to do. If it is, kid's have a tendency to think the weirdest things are cool. Chances are that your son will have some sort of spacer, crowns, or other device to maintain the space where is permanent teeth will grow in. And the other kids will think that is cool because it is different.
I have a nephew who had to have caps on all his baby teeth as a side-effect of the very rare genetic disorder he has. Because they were just baby teeth, the dentist would only cap them in silver. My sister worried that the other kids would make fun of him. But he just joked with them about his silver smile and everyone thought it was cool. He's 13 now, and has his permanent teeth but sometimes when we are at activities with them I'll hear one of his brothers wish that he still had all his cool silver teeth.
my cousin switched pediatric dentists and the new dentist found all kinds of infection the first had missed and took care of it, saving a lot of her teeth, and explaining a lot of pain. It was expensive but totally worth it. if your mother instinct is red flagging you about this don't feel self conscious getting a 2nd opinion. But if this is the way it's gotta be, it'll work out.
It must be a huge change to imagine having your son without his 2 front teeth for a couple years probably, and that must be hard. If they have to be pulled, don't feel like a failure. You'll get used to it, and it can make for a good story!
try not to get too worked up over it. Although you son is younger than other kids who are starting to loose their front teeth. It isn't uncommon to see kids with their front teeth missing. Remember the song, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth?" And if the teeth don't come out and stay damaged in his mouth it could effect his adult teeth. So it is good that they come out. I know that dentist can have false teeth made for kids too. It would be a retainer that has two false teeth attached to the front. so you should talk to him about that.
Hey, kids, especially boys knock teeth out. He'll be loosing those teeth soon anyway. That happened to a friend of ours and he was just super cute. I don't think anyone thought anything bad since he was the age he was. Anyway, you need to do what's best for your son. You're not responsible to other moms, so don't worry about what they think.
Candice,
You could always get a second opinion.
My 2 1/2 year old hit his front tooth on the cement and it has been "root-dead" ever since. He turned 5 a couple of months ago. He still has the tooth. It's gray and there is an infection above it in the gum, but it doesn't bother him at all. His dentist also suggested pulling it, but said it's ok to leave it as long as it doesn't bother him.
So, there's our story. I'm happy we've left it.
Get a second opinion! If the opinion is the same and the teeth need to come out, be positive about it with him. Don't act like it is the end of the world, because however you act, your son will feel. I was told my 5 year old needed to have his front teeth pulled, too. I got a second opinion, and fortunately we didn't have to pull them after all. However, he now has 2 silver crowns toward the back, but that are visible when he smiles. He noticed them, and showed them to me, but isn't bothered by them. He doesn't think they are ugly, or anything, and I made sure not to say anything negative about them in front of him.
