Travelingjenny

I am one of those people who has nightmares about losing teeth. Usually I'm in a car crash and I hit my face on the dashboard (and no, I'm not driving). I have an irrational fear that I'm going to somehow cause irreparable damage to my smile. This probably stems from the fact that I had major, painful orthodontic work done (including extractions of adult teeth) as a youth. Or maybe it's because I watched a friend lose a big chunk of her front tooth because of another friend's irresponsible antics. However, it probably has more to do with the fact that the McNallys seem to have bad dental karma — Adam has titanium implants that have caused him quite a bit of suffering, and even more money. So, whenever one of the girls falls and cries, my first instinct is to check her teeth. 

About a month ago at a school potluck, I was watching as Grace and Tess collided. It was quickly apparent that Grace was in pain, but several minutes went by before she would remove her hand from her mouth so we could check her out. My knees became jelly when I saw that part of her front tooth had been pushed back behind the other front tooth. The school nurse determined that the tooth was not loose (what?!) and did not need medical attention. This was a relief to Grace, who was still hysterical, and remained so until we put her in bed. The next morning, miraculously, the tooth was back in place. By the time we took Grace to the dentist 9 days later, the injured tooth was slightly discolored due to the damaged root, but this was apparently not a cause for concern. The dentist informed us that it would probably not get any darker, and that only about 2% of these kind of injuries require an extraction. Phew… But since then, the tooth has gotten considerably darker, and is an odd purplish-brown, although it's still not loose — yet. So now, instead of dreaming about car crashes, I have nightmares about Grace needing to have her front tooth pulled instead of losing it the romantic, old-fashioned way. And I suppose none of this is really that big of a deal. Obviously I need to take a cue from my wise 5-year old, who says, "I'm glad my tooth is brown. It makes me unique."