Shark Tooth Tale *now with a photo*

I had really nasty teeth as a teen.  They were healthy as can be -- I never had a filling.  But to say they were crooked would be an understatement. My one front tooth was completely sideways, and my eye teeth grew in at the top of my gum line. The rest of my top teeth were just crooked and crazy.  I learned to laugh and smile with my hands in front of my mouth, because of the incessant teasing (people today would call it bullying, but while it was mean it was not totally cruel, if you know what I mean).  So many of my baby teeth would not fall out and my dentist at the time extracted them several at a time. In retrospect, not a good idea as it allowed my teeth to grow in all over the place. But years of orthodontia and I finally got braces at age 16 (what a wonderful time to get them, no?) and I have mostly straight teeth now. My one front tooth went a little crooked again after I had my wisdom teeth pulled, but given then fact that it was totally perpendicular to my mouth most of my youth -- I can deal with that.

I have written before that I worry about Tess's teeth -- they are so crammed together. And like me, the inside of her mouth is very small -- she has a gummy smile and not a lot of space. I never worried about Sam's teeth. His pearly whites are evenly spaced and he has none of that gumminess of the women of the household.

But like me he seems to be a bit slow losing teeth. He's only lost the two bottom teeth, and the adults were half grown in when he lost them so it didn't take long to look nice. And they grew in perfectly evenly. He's had three or four loose teeth for a while, but they aren't about to fall out anytime soon.

Then the other day he yawned and I looked in his mouth with a "what the???" expression. On further inspection, I saw that one of his adult front teeth has grown in already. It has grown in from the roof of his mouth (on the ridge, but as far back as it can be, pretty much the middle).  Oh and it's BACKWARD!!!

So I call the dentist and she pooh poohed me and said that lots of time the adults come in before the baby is gone. I told her that isn't what I was talking about. She hesitated when I tried to explained and asked to see him. One look in his mouth and she says, "wow, you don't see that every day." Just what you want to hear from a dentist!  She then follows up by saying, "well, I've had eight years of higher education and all I can say is that that's just wrong." Gulp.

She had no idea what to do so she's referred him to a peds orthodontist. She asked me to make sure I like this doctor as she sees years and years of visits in our future.  I saw dollar signs. She did do x-rays and all the rest of his teeth are in the right place, but his eye teeth are really high.

I have no idea what they can do for this. Maybe pull the baby tooth and somehow try to make the other one migrate forward?  Can it even move that far?.  Of course I couldn't get an apt. until the end of August.  Until then Sam loves to gross out his friends by regaling them with his freaky shark tooth.

(p.s. this is a weird angle -- up the nose, and his ears look like they are on his neck:))

Comments

[Emily]

Seriously chickie, you have got to include pics for a post like this...

<---- your fellow messed-up-toothed-cousin-who-is-so-thankful-to-her-parents-for-fixing-her-mouth

[Jen]

Already spending the dollars here :-) welcome to the club :-)

[Jamie]

Ah girl, I hope you have a good dental plan *sigh*. I love how he likes to freak his friends out with it though lol (that's a total boy thing! lol). You'd be amazed at what they can do these days, it'll be interesting to hear what the specialist says. I have crummy teeth too - so I feel for you. Keep us updated on how it goes when he has his appt in August!

[Emily]

Holy moly. He's got us beat! Yikes.