That Tooth

My daughter has had a hard time with one particular upper baby tooth molar.  It started waaay back in June when her gum swelled as the permanent tooth came pushing through.  I know I haven't seen many swollen gums in my lifetime, but this was so swollen it just pained me to look at it.  She was in pain too.  

I called the dentist for an appointment to have it checked out. The nurse suggested that between that moment and the day my daughter could come in, to have my daughter use salt-water three times per day. They have seen that work wonders.  She was right and I was able to cancel the appointment as the swelling had gone down to zero. 

And then I forgot about it.  Since it was in the back of her jaw, it wasn't visibly apparent as to what was going on. 

Until just before camping.  My daughter happened to be laughing and I saw this baby tooth hanging down, at an 80% slant.  The backside of her baby tooth was completely out of the gum line with her permanent tooth showing through.  The front part of the baby tooth, however, was securely in tact. My daughter said that it hurt too much when she tried to move it, and that it was stuck anyway. 

Knowing that we could not squeeze in a dental visit between that day and the next when we left for the woods, I put it back out of mind.  

Once again, I forgot about it until this weekend when I caught another glimpse.  This time we do have an opportunity to handle it before our next vacation at the end of this week. Last night she showed us how she could not wiggle it free, and she was right.  It is pretty stuck. 

She was not jumping for joy, but she was not in tears either, when she learned that tonight at 5:30pm she will be letting the dentist finish the job of getting that tooth outta-there. That is one thing I just can't handle is dangling baby teeth. It seems like the permanent one is truly suffering because of the realistic lack of brushing that can be done around that ill-fitted-dangling-tooth.  By no fault of the person, I just can't see how it can be kept clean. 

The good side that will happen once we leave the office with tooth in hand and no longer in mouth, is that we will then drive to a nice restaurant to enjoy family time with Grandma and Grandpa (my husband's parents).  A perfect reward to an uncomfortable situation. 

Wish us luck!