A Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Today was a big day at our house. Our son had to have two teeth pulled. He is almost 7 1/2 and hadn't lost a tooth! He was a late teether and I have heard that a lot of times when their teeth come in late, they are older when they lose them too. He told us several weeks ago that he could feel a tooth growing in and he did have an adult tooth coming in. Unfortunately, his baby tooth wasn't the least bit loose!

This is the same boy who used to scream and cry getting his hair cut, can't stand the dentist even putting a glove in his mouth; and had to have three fillings and a baby root canal at the end of the last school year.

He has such anxiety about the dentist that our pediatric dentist was recommending he be put under with general anesthesia to have his fillings and his baby root canal done. We didn't like the idea of having him put to sleep for fillings, so we got a second opinion who attempted laughing gas but was unsuccessful, then a third who agreed with the recommendation of general anesthesia, and finally went to a dentist that my friend Adrienne recommended. She is amazing with our anxious boy! They use a medicine called Midazolam to make kids sleepy and much more relaxed. It makes them pretty out of it, but they aren't completely out like they would be with general anesthesia. It also causes amnesia so he does not remember much of his appointments. I don't love the idea of using the drug, but we all (the dentist, and my husband and I) feel like it is the best way to get his dental work done.

Two weeks ago we went in to have the dentist check out the adult tooth that was coming in and see what she felt needed to be done. She suggested pulling that tooth as well as the one next to it because she could see in the x-ray she took that the adult tooth behind that one was also going to be coming in soon. Today was the day! I was feeling pretty nervous, but our son wasn't nervous at all! He has been bummed that most the other kids in his class have lost teeth and he hadn't so I think he was mostly excited to finally "lose" two teeth. ;) It also helps that he doesn't remember much from having his baby root canal and fillings done.

Last time he will have a mouth full of baby teeth! 

Our handsome guy! 

He did really well at his appointment! (He wasn't happy about the gauze in this picture.) ;)  His biggest complaint was the way his bottom lip felt when it was numb. It was really bothering him, but thankfully he didn't bite it! Daddy and I each held a hand while the dentist pulled his teeth. I couldn't watch so I turned my head the other way! I love the song Overcomer by Mandisa, (our 4 year old and I have hand motions we do as we sing the song together) and it happened to be on the radio as the dentist was pulling his teeth. If you're paying attention, you can find God even in the little things. :)

Here he is, much happier without the gauze in his mouth! My husband got to the appointment after the medicine had already started working, and he doesn't even remember Dad being there. That is a little scary, but obviously the medicine works.   He was happy he got to have a mint chocolate shake from Arby's for dinner.

He wanted to keep his first two teeth, so he wrote a note for the tooth fairy. :) 

I wanted to get him a tooth pillow and found this one on Etsy for a reasonable price. I ordered him the blue with his name embroidered in red. I love that it has a pocket on the back for him to put his tooth in and the tooth fairy can leave his money there also. I found it on Etsy here.

A week or two after I ordered his pillow, another blogger posted that her 5 year old had lost her first tooth and she had ordered her this adorable tooth pillow on etsy here. I loved it, and I ordered a purple chevron for our 4 year old and a pink chevron for our 2 year old with the pink cheeks like in the post on Kelly's Korner blog. Now we will be prepared! ;) I had to message her and request a custom order because her shop was all sold out. She said her turnaround time is 3 to 4 weeks right now, but that is fine for us. I don't think our girls will be losing teeth any time soon.

The tooth fairy came! The tooth fairy pays a high price for teeth that have to be pulled. ;) Our son was excited to get $5 for each tooth! We made sure he knows the tooth fairy normally only leaves $1 per tooth so he isn't expecting $5 every time! Ha ha.  I'm thankful his appointment went well and hopeful that the rest of his teeth will get loose on their own!!  We are so proud of our big guy!