A LONG story of a knocked-out tooth

I know...this is a REALLY bad picture! But I was trying to get a shot of Taiger's tooth. Check out the tooth on the left. See how it looks longer? It is knocked half way out! The root pulled out, so it is hanging longer! YIKES!


So, Taiger went with my Mom (NaiNai) to Idaho to visit Grandpa and the rest of the family. He was having a wonderful time! On Tuesday, I called to check on him (for the thousandth time, really) and NaiNai greeted me with a, "Perfect timing" (that what Mom's are great at, huh?!). She told me Taiger had just knocked his tooth halfway out. I talked to him and he was absolutely hysterical. He could hardly breath, and talked between sobs. Poor boy! I was beside myself. Later, I found out that he and NaiNai had been playing a game where he would run up behind her and grab her. She would pretend to be startled. He would laugh, and then do it again. They were playing in the kitchen. Well, NaiNai heard Taiger's little feet running, and then he never hit her. Instead (and this is where no one really knows what happens), he "missed" her and ran into the cupboard! NaiNai turned to see little Taiger sprawled on the kitchen floor! He had hit the cupboard so hard it had knocked him on his back! (We think he must have been running and turned to look behind him, turning back only in time to smack the cupboard). Later on, he showed NaiNai where he had hit: the porcailan handle of the cupboard.

Well, I got off the phone with NaiNai and my screaming son and called the dentist. I got Taiger an appointment for the next day. NaiNai and Taiger hurried home. All the way to Utah, Taiger slept. When he stirred, he didn't look around confused as a normal child waking from a nap, but rather looked completely dazed when he did stir. I called to check on him and asked my Mom if he could have a concusion. She said she didn't think so, since it was the front of his face, not the back of his head.

Remember how Taiger got his two front teeth filled in right at the top of the tooth at the gum line? That yellow is the filling in stuff. The yellow line on the left tooth is where his tooth USED to be at the gum! The white about the yellow? THAT IS THE ROOT!!!!!!!!!!! OUCH!

When they arrived him, I saw that Taiger's tooth was knocked half way out, so the front exposed the root and hung at an unsightly angle back. The back must have still been attached to the gums. After hugs and snuggles, he wanted to go out on his swing. NaiNai took him outside and I came and pushed him softly on his swing. He then came in the house and vomited.

I thought the throwing up was due to taking tylonal on an empty stomach (I learned he had been so busy playing, he had hardly eaten dinner the night before and had had only some dry cereal that morning, just before the accident). So, I made him some broth and put chunks of bread in it so they were soft enough not to have to chew. Taiger ate that up, but still acted strangely.

Even though he had slept the enture way to Utah, he still fell asleep early. I chalked it up to the trauma he had been through, the PAIN, and all of the crying. He slept through the night...except when he woke with pain, or to attempt to throw up (but was actually, and painfully, dry heaving). He didn't wake once from lack of sleepiness. The next morning, he ate litterally two tiny bites of oatmeal and threw up again.

He was so fussy all morning. He was weak and seemed like a child with a very high fever. His mouth was quite swollen still and he was in a ton of pain. He kept asking again and again if we could PLEASE go to the dentist. It was heartbreaking.

I know...he has a troll/ogre face here. But he was in a TON of pain, and Mommy just kept making him take pictures! What a good little trouper! Not to mention his mouth was TOTALLY swollen. :(

Because he was so beside himself about getting to the dentist, we left TONS early. Good thing we did, because he vomited again on the way there, and we had to turn around to change and get cleaned up. I took him in the house. He was like a zombie walking in and could not get himself up the steps to the door. He was walking so slowly. Once inside, I hurried to his room to find him some clothes. He followed me. I asked if he wanted to sit down for a minuet. He said, "I just want to lay down here". He lay down on the hardwood floor of the hallway outside his room and fell asleep abruptly. And that is when I REALLY began to worry. I cleaned him up and changed his pants, but I didn't attempt the shirt. I didn't want to hurt his tooth, and he was in no state to hold his head up while I put it on him carefully. I carried him and his shirt (and an extra shirt, just in case) to the car. Taiger slept all the way to his dentist (about 20 mins away). When he did wake up, it seemed he was asleep when his eyes were open, because of his slack jaw and dazed eyes. His body was limp. When his eyes were closed, I didn't know if he was asleep because nothing about his body position changed. He was as relaxed in being awake as he was asleep. It was disconserting.

When we arrived at the dentist, he stayed asleep while I carried him in, checked in and gave them our insurence card, and waited in the waiting room. He didn't wake once. He woke only when I lay him in the dentist chair. Then, it was in the same state as before...vacant, completely relaxed (and not in a good, healthy, ready for bed way! More like an almost passed out state). He didn't move while they worked on him. They took x-rays, but Taiger was hardly lucid. When we went into the room where the dds performed procedures, I asked Taiger if it was okay if she pulled his tooth. He said it was. They extracted the tooth without a peep from Taiger (although he did flinch twice).

After we left, we went to the Chinese restaurant and ordered tofu to go. My Mom had met us there and waited in the car while I paid. I sat in the car with Taiger until the food was ready. (Anyway, that IS important later...even though it seems I only put it in there to show what a bad Mom I am...making my son wait in pain while I order FOOD! JERK!)

When we returned home, the numbing was wearing off, and the pain was setting in full force. Taiger cried and cried, begging to go back to the dentist for more "paper towel" (gauze the dentist put in his mouth. I offered to go buy some, or even "get some from the dentist" aka store, but he would have none of it! He only wanted the one at the dentist...I assume because now his teeth hurt and the gauze had felt good, so it must have been a "special" kind).

Anyway, so in the end...Taiger calmed down and was able to drink something our neighbor had brought over. It was a meal replacement drink, like a Slim Fast. It was chocolate flavoured, and Taiger LOVED it! (At the Chinese restaurant, I had stollen him a straw with which to drink the meal replacement). After he drank that, I baked him muffins, and he ate two! Then, he ate almost ALL of one box of tofu I had picked up, some rice, a piece of bananna, AND he wanted macaroni and cheese! He also drank a ton of water.

Well, that was the end of it! He perked RIGHT up, was okay the rest of the night and GREAT today! What an ordeal!

Luckily, he looks TOTALLY cute missing one of his front teeth! OH! AND one of the FIRST things he did after it happened was attempt a whistle...and succeed. He has been whistling the entire day!!