Tooth Trauma

3 different phases of teeth, but all Montana's smile!

Last Saturday, Montana had quite the fall. She was strolling along with her hands in her pockets and tripped. I picked her up, sensing it was bad, and saw blood. I started to freak out and then I saw that her tooth was chipped. I called Aaron because I didn't have the doctor's phone number in my phone (I do now! Along with poison control and my dentist!) and I was concerned I had to take her to the ER. All rational thought was gone. Thankfully I had a friend with me who remained calm. So here I am carrying my screaming daughter through the park to get back to my car while trying to talk to my husband on the phone. I'm sure we were quite the spectacle. I clearly don't handle situations like this well, because without comforting my bleeding daughter I threw her in the car seat and raced home. She was crying the whole time..."my tooth, my tooth." We finally got home Aaron took a good look at it, we iced her fat lip and sat on the couch and breathed...and watched Veggie Tales. One of our neighbors is a doctor so she stopped by and suggested seeing a dentist but said she would be fine. Montana went to bed without eating or drinking because she didn't want to put anything in her mouth, but she was sleeping well.

And then I really freaked out.

Of course I have been reading all about brain trauma and with my counseling background I kept thinking about how this event will change her, how she will never be the same (let me remind you, I wasn't being very rational at this point). But as I sat in the living room in the middle of the night in the dark, I began to chill out. I cried because her tooth WON'T look the same, but was thankful that it was JUST a tooth. I processed my response to the incident and realized how I could have comforted my daughter better in the moment. I worried about my baby and what she went through, and at the same time recognized how minor this was considering what other kids go through (and live through!). I gave myself permission to be sad about this little event (after a brief encounter with another neighbor in the laundry room who reminded me that Montana was MY baby- sometimes you just can't beat co-housing). Our first "major" incident is now under our belt.

We took her to the dentist on Tuesday and the tooth needed to come out. We went to a pediatric dentist on Thursday and they pulled it. Can I just say what a trooper Montana was? She sat in the chair by herself, opened her mouth when she was supposed to, and didn't cry when they numbed the area or pulled the tooth. And yes, I did leave the room for the tooth pulling - Aaron stayed with her. She was back to her normal self that afternoon and in fact gave Aaron, my sister and her husband, and me a wonderful concert on the beach later that day!

Now she shows people that she lost a tooth, talks about the tooth fairy and all of her other friends who have lost teeth (she doesn't need to know they are all 5 or 6!). Her smile is different but still adorable!