Teeth Disaster...

***If you are squeamish or have a weak stomach, you might want to choose to NOT read this post. It describes a traumatic event that happened to our small son with photos. BE AWARE***

When I was a little kid, about 2 and a half, I fell up a set of stairs at my parents house, and bumped my teeth on the stairs as I tripped. I broke both of my front teeth off at the gums and had to have them pulled by the dentist. Here is a photo of me in the 1st grade, with no teeth...

Subsequently, I didn't have front teeth until I was 8 years old. Promptly that summer, after my adult teeth came in, I tripped and broke one of my teeth in half. I had to have it bonded and pinned. So needless to say, I'm a little sensitive to teeth or face injuries.

But August 10th, was our anniversary and we were planning to go to dinner as a family. I was excited. It had been a while since we'd been out together and this was a special occasion. We got to the restaurant and had the usual 20 minute wait for the local Olive Garden. When our table came ready, we sat and ordered. It was a wonderful night. The kids ate, and played and were happy. There was a moment that I was very happy knowing we were out and we weren't having any problems. After dinner we ordered dessert and were patiently waiting for it to arrive. Finnegan then, tipped back slightly into his chair so his chair was tetering on the back two feet. Then, in slow motion, the chair began to tilt backwards. In his fear of falling back with it, and in order to preserve his head in the fall, he opened his legs, and rotated his body forward, in order to remain upright. But when he did and the chair landed on the floor, he abruptly planted his mouth into the front edge of the wooded seat. He erupted in screaming, and the resturant was silent. Immediately there was blood everywhere. Ken scooped him up and bolted to the bathroom, as we were unsure at the time if it was his mouth or nose that had received the trauma. The man seated behind us asked if he was ok, and I said I wasn't sure. I didn't know what to do, and then I made that mom decision... This was my son, and I will go where I need to to see him. I picked up our things and Penelope and bolted to the bathroom, and Ken was there with Finn. Finnegan had calmed down due to the wonderful calming presence of my husband. And Ken couldn't find his teeth. They were not in his mouth but there was blood everywhere! We didn't see them in his lip and hadn't noticed them on his lap. I told Ken that we must then take him to the emergency room. We left the resturant with our children and headed as fast as we could to the ER.

On our way, Finnegan was crying on and off and fussing. Obviously, he was hurting and scared. I asked him what was causing his outburts, and he said that he was scared more than in pain. So we prayed as a family, asking God to keep him brave and asking God to be with the doctors to have the knowledge to help him. After our prayer together, there wasn't another outburst from him, and he hasn't cried since.

At the ER, the triage nurse recommended a dentist that specialized in pediatric dentistry that also did sedation dentistry too. We would call them the next morning for an appointment. He let the triage nurse look at him as well as the PA once inside the ER. They decided to do a chest x-ray to make sure he hadn't asperated his teeth - since we didn't know where they were. All in all, he did well at the ER.

I called the recommended dentist first thing on Wednesday morning and had to make an appointment at the north office, about an hour from our house. They had told me that we'd have to wait until a spot opened up... but I would rather wait in their office rather than waiting 24-48 hours to get an appointment. So we made the drive up and waited... but didn't wait too long. Once we were in the office the dentist was very kind and gentle with Finnegan. She was very concerned that his teeth were broken at the gum line that he will have to have surgery to remove them by an oral surgeon. They took an x-ray of his teeth and this is what they found...

If you aren't experienced in x-ray reading, this shows BOTH of his front teeth and the canines on each side as well. The teeth are fully intact and simply pushed back up into the sockets that they grew from. Hopefully, what they told us, is that the teeth will come back down normally. But we've been doing our own research and learning that sure enough, the teeth only have 2-3 months to come down before they need to be pulled. So we will keep an eye on them.

In the meantime, we've begun to discuss with him what it means to have no teeth and that he won't have teeth for a while, but that they will come back. He was very sad at first. And for an almost 3 yr old, he has comprehended exceptionally well. He understands that he was not being careful and that it caused him to get hurt and the consequence is that he knocked his teeth out. He is such a sweet little boy. He's sort of tired of talking about it, and has started smiling again in the last day or so, now that he's used to the lack of teeth that he has. Here are some photos of him...

My sweet little toothless wonder... And now, we'll sing to him at Christmas "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" just as my family sang to me oh so many years ago!