Michael became a toothless wonder today. That’s right, he can now sing the song “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth”. We were eating dinner when his second top tooth fell out, the tooth that, to me, is the last vestige of babyhood. Gone, just like the baby that slipped into this world silent and observant, now replaced by a 47-inch boy who is no longer silent but still very observant.
I knew this day would come but didn’t realize how much I was dreading it. In addition to the whole my-boy-is-growing-up-and-away-from-me thing, there’s the adult teeth thing. When baby teeth come in they usually come in straight and nice and to me nothing beats a smile from a young child. When adult teeth come in it’s a different story. There are issues of overcrowding and teeth coming in crooked or not at all. Poor Michael has no idea what he’s in store for. Due to the fact that both sides of his family genes carry the bad teeth genome, he is a candidate for all three scenarios.
Both his father and I had braces. We both had four teeth removed to make room in our overcrowded mouths before said braces. I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled as well. On Jeff’s side of the family there is a history of missing adult teeth. In addition, both Jeff and I grew up very cavity prone. There’s no good side of the family to hope he takes after in the dental realm. So I’ve dreaded this moment ever since Michael’s teeth started coming in.
Michael’s new wide open space on top is made even wider by the fact that one of his baby teeth (a lateral incisor, which is the tooth next to the main front one) never came in, a common occurrence according to his dentist. Right now it looks cute but who knows how those two front teeth will come in. I’ve seen those older kids in second grade with their temporary buckteeth.
To add insult to injury, at our last visit to the dentist I was told that Michael was missing both of his lateral incisors. So he will either have to have implants or spacers in the very near future, and probably braces as well. I don’t want my child to look silly or gawky just because his mother married a man with the same history of bad teeth as her!
I’m just thankful that there have been great advances in the orthodontic field since I had braces. Now they start kids on a treatment plan as soon as their adult teeth start to come in. So maybe it won’t be so bad after all. By the time Michael hits 5th grade or whatever grade it is that kids’ adult teeth have all come in and settled in for the ride, perhaps we’ll be there too riding the straight and narrow. I sure hope so because kids can be cruel. No one wants to be called “Brace Face” or “Bucktooth Bob”!
The down side, however, is that Michael isn’t the only one I have to worry about. I’m afraid that Nicholas won’t have it any easier with his teeth. I’ve already been told by his dentist that while he does have his adult lateral incisors, they will come in misshapen and pointy. Ugh, what did I do to have my family cursed by the dental gods?! Was I mean to the tooth fairy or something?
When Michael pulled out his tooth yesterday Nicholas was in awe. After all, what can be cooler than watching your older brother lose a tooth? Afterwards, he started feeling around in his mouth and then declared that he too now had a loose tooth. I smiled to myself. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, my young one, I thought. We have plenty of time before you start losing teeth and I want to enjoy that smile of yours for as long as we have. Say Cheese!
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