Katie has had a loose tooth for quite some time. Of course, it became critical an hour after bedtime at gramma’s.
It was hanging by the tiniest string and of course she refused to pull it or to let us pull it. She wanted us to try and cut it (like David did with another of her loose teeth recently) so Tom was prepared…
But he ended up just pulling it out!
The orthodontist has an even fancier system for tooth models now! It’s a tiny little camera she just moves around his mouth and it turns it into a 3D model!
https://youtube.com/shorts/SYxHvNj7IDM
His last adult tooth (red X) is trying to come in on top of another tooth. So they have to move the tooth that’s currently there to the empty spot (green arrow). This means six months of full braces on the top and then likely two years of Invisalign after.
Why Invisalign? Owen asked for it and since he did really well keeping track of his retainer the past two years, we said we’d think about it. Unfortunately it’s more expensive, to the tune of about $6k. We’re still waiting on the price for regular braces because we are out of insurance benefits (we were out from Day 1—benefits max out at like $1750 and we have already paid that much ourselves).
A few teeth back Owen asked the tooth fairy to sign his dollar (she did) but he lost it (ugh) so when he lost another tooth today they conspired and Katie wrote this note.
He was kinda worried about having surgery but he handled it like a champ. Tom went with him and said he had all the ladies laughing afterward. We had gotten him excited about counting down from 10 once they started the sleepy drugs…but he didn’t even get to 10. He said they told him they were putting it in and then he was waking up!
His orthodontist recommended getting two teeth pulled so after a few delays here we are. He was nervous but handled it like a champ. This was about 15 minutes in while he was numb before they actually started—he just wanted to come out and say hi.
Unfortunately, one of the teeth gave her some problems and she couldn’t remove it so she referred us to an oral surgeon. She seems to think maybe the roots of the baby tooth are wrapped around the adult tooth. Yikes.
Owen was not thrilled with that prospect so we’re trying to talk up how cool it is to be knocked out and we think he’s okay now. Thankfully we are getting in next week so he doesn’t have much time to think about it.
She just mentioned yesterday that her tooth was kinda wiggly. Just now she said it was bothering her and she wanted to pull it out. I thought she was being silly. She took a Kleenex and came back in about 30 seconds with a new hole in her face! No tears, no whining, plus blood!
So Owen decided to ask the tooth fairy for her autograph last night to prove she was real. He even left out his own dollar for her to sign. ☺️
He’s been lightly questioning the Easter bunny, Santa, and the tooth fairy for awhile but he still believes…for now. I like that he signed the letter “from your believer Owen.” 🥰
Owen has had a loose tooth for awhile now and he came home from school today saying it was time for project Nerf gun tooth removal. Inspired by his second cousin Luke he decided it was time to try it. It took a few tries (our string was way too long) but we had success!!
Seriously, what are the odds? I guess I’ll be up a little later than planned tonight.
He found out today that he gets braces at his next appointment!
He was’t terribly excited about me taking a picture before getting his expander.
Being his silly self.
End result:
She said it would take him a few days to learn how to talk with it—and that is definitely the case. He mumbles a lot anyway so this just makes it 10 times as hard to understand him.
Today Owen had his first orthodontic appointment—getting his mouth scanned for many thousands of pictures of his teeth/mouth to be stitched together so he doesn’t need impressions! Technology is awesome.
They also put on the two rubber band spacers to prepare for the expander.
Yep. His current (and last) dentist both recommended an orthodontic referral. We finally went.
The bad news? He has a crossbite that really needs to be fixed. Most likely due to his thumb-sucking. Sigh. And insurance only covers $1750 for a lifetime. And it costs twice that.
The good news is that it won’t take long to fix. He’ll have to wear an expander for 3-4 months and then braces (just on the front four teeth) for about a year. Of course he could need more as more teeth fall out and come in, but right now she thinks this will be good.
He’s not thrilled but he’s not fighting it. We’re telling him he’ll have a robot mouth. 🙂
Look what happened mere minutes after arriving at the pool today?! Tooth #2!
She had a tiny freak out but not nearly as bad as before. We also had a momentary panic when I was putting her tooth in a Ziploc bag and it magically disappeared. But we found it and all was well and she was back playing within 10 minutes.
She was a hot mess when it happened—she was afraid it was going to bleed like a bloody nose. I literally had to hold her and have her breathe deeply to calm down. But then she was happy!!
Getting her tooth pillow ready!
Kudos to Julie for not freaking out and remembering to take a picture. 🙂
They got their cleanings done in the procedure room because it wasn’t being used…so they got a TV on the ceiling!
Katie is still a much better patient than Owen. He freaks out at the smallest thing—he said the hygienist’s rotating toothbrush hurt and then he was throwing a mini fit because he doesn’t like the taste/feel of the flouride treatment—he was whining a little and needed four glasses of water and looked like he was going to be sick; Katie just goes on like nothing even happened. 🙂
He lost the other front tooth! I didn’t even know it was that loose until about an hour ago! It likely wouldn’t have come out today, but apparently he was using his teeth to get Legos apart. 🙂
As you saw earlier today, Owen’s tooth has been dangling precariously—and it has been for days. We’ve bribed him with cash and treats to pull it out—and he’s refused.
But just now, a few minutes after Tom had put him to bed, we heard footsteps running down the hall and Tom guessed he’d finally got the tooth out. Yep! He excitedly showed us it came out!
He told us he wanted to keep it; we said he could but he wouldn’t get any money from the tooth fairy. He said he’d give it to her tomorrow night. We said that was fine and sent him back to bed. A few minutes later he was back again to tell us he had lots of money and wanted to keep his tooth. What an awesome kid. 🙂
Owen’s front tooth is SOOOO loose that we keep telling him to just pull it out. At dinner we talked about how the Tooth Fairy doesn’t pay for teeth that fall out and can’t be found (like if he accidentally swallowed it). I told him I would match what the Tooth Fairy gave him last time if he pulled it out tonight. Uncle Rob promised him FIVE dollars if it came out tonight. Owen REALLY wanted the $5, but as it turns out, he didn’t want it bad enough to pull put his tooth.
He pulled it out at breakfast! It was super wiggly and I had told him last night to just move it back and forth and it might come out. I didn’t really think he’d do it! He was SO excited. And Tom was home this morning so he got to see it, too!
“I was just moving it around and POP it came out!”
He proudly showed me as soon as he got off the bus (but after he hugged Katie).
Then, at dinner:
Owen: Mom, you know what the tooth fairy is going to bring me? A chocolate Popsicle!
Me: Um, that’s not going to fit in your tooth pillow.
Owen: No, the pillow I put my head on. She’ll put it in a freezer bag.
Me: Don’t get your hopes up.
We’ve been waiting and waiting and wanting to pull it out because it was SO loose but he wouldn’t let us get near it. It was so loose we were afraid he was going to swallow it. But this morning eating a donut I saw him stop chewing, stop and think for a second, then reach in his mouth.
TA DA!
And not a great picture but you can see the hole better. 🙂
Checking it out in the mirror.
It’s REALLY loose now but he won’t let us try to pull it. We’ve been able to see the replacement tooth for awhile now…
Nothing really blog-worthy happened today…but I did post a few things on Facebook that I thought I’d share here:
Up today? Toy Story. Both are fully entranced. Unfortunately, we only got to see about 10 minutes of the movie before our network decided to flake out…and an hour of messing with it did nothing. Which leads to…
I am so sick of our worthless wireless network that there just might be 500 yards of ethernet cable running through the house when Tom gets home.
On the best of days, I don’t have the energy for two sick kids (with one super snotty girl). On a day like today when I am feeling exhausted and headachy, I REALLY don’t have the energy to be up and wiping noses every two minutes. But when you can see the snot fly through the air during a sneeze…you can’t really ignore it. At least Owen can (mostly) do his own and can kind of help with Katie…but I still need to intervene a lot.
Aww crap. I just realized Katie is likely teething. It’s about the age and would explain the extra chewing and slobber. Yeah, you’d think I would have thought of that before now…but no.
I’m so glad Owen didn’t want to take a nap today so that he could fall asleep on the couch at 4:45. 😐
And I just had to be a mean mom and wake Owen up from a nap. I just couldn’t let him take a long nap at this time of day when his bedtime is 7:30…because I am NOT giving up my nightly alone/me time if I can help it. Especially since I want to go to bed early since I’m not feeling the best.
How can one tiny girl produce SO much snot?!
Of course the best time to find out the humidifier in your kid’s room is dead is at bedtime. GRRR. Unfortunately, this means a trip to town—since it’s the weekend, Amazon wouldn’t get here until Wednesday…and with a coupon at BB&B I can get $10 off. Blurg.
The bad news? Katie threw up all over the couch.
The good news? At least it wasn’t at Sam’s Club or in the car (we had just got home).
The bad news? It was the one morning I wasn’t sitting out there with them and Mr. Tattletale—who normally gives me a play-by-play of everything—didn’t feel the need to tell me. 😐
The good news? We have a leather couch.
The bad news? It has A LOT of button holes and stitching.
Ugh. Teething sucks. (Especially when she’s never acted like this before.) Poor kid.