Russell's Tooth Story

Russell had a rough couple of days. My boys told me it needs to be on the blog. Here it goes. My assignment:

The story begins on September 2nd, I had cooked beef stew in the crock pot all day. My house smelled lovely. I opened the oven door and placed inside two gorgeous loaves of french bread dough. It was the 3rd time I had tried the recipe and it was finally not lumpy. It would be gorgeous picture perfect bread. La la la, my life was like a fairy tale.

Russell ran into the house. He was holding something carefully in his hand and said, "My tooth fell out." I looked at it and yep, it was part of a tooth. I thought for a moment that teeth come out all the time and the tooth fairy has been so clever lately with what unique coins she has brought. Then I saw it. The hole where it was broken off from. His big- top- front- tooth! Ouch! I panicked and flapped my arms, which is what I do when anything unexpected happens. Actually, I have now been called an "arm flapper." (Just flap like you want to fly away and you'll feel better too.) It was so terrible. I screamed that someone needed to call dad. Why is he always at work when we have trauma? Then I said I would call the dentist. I was thinking we needed some miracle glue to just glue it back and live happily ever after.

Russell said he crashed outside on his scooter and landed on his face. He searched all over by the sidewalk until he found the tooth. He had road rash on his left cheek. His front PERMANENT tooth had broken off at the gum line!

The secretary at the dentist office said to come right now, they just happened to stay at the office late tonight and would get ready for us. I poured some milk in a glass and dropped the broken piece of tooth in. I had seen it done on TV. I took out the bread dough, turned off the oven and drove away.

I really thought he'd be without a front tooth now until he had an implant. I thought for sure there was nothing they could do, but to smooth out the sharp corner that was left. It couldn't be left so sharp in his mouth. So we would go.

His smile! Oh no! He has the best smile! I love his smile. He always smiles. He smiles more than anyone I know. Now it would be without his front tooth! As we drove to the dentist I decided I couldn't handle this. I didn't want to go on with life if we are just going to get broken. It made me think of the day we will be resurrected like Jesus was. I said out loud that maybe we should all just crash and die and then Russell will have his tooth back when we are resurrected. I know, dumb. My kids have repeated that sentence a hundred times! I can't take it back. I was so upset and it had made me feel better to say it. Feeling better, having thrown my tantrum, I was calm. This was life. We are here to be tried & tested. We could all handle a single tooth broken right in the front of Russell's number one smile. Right?! Right! I can handle this. It could have been worse. I think saying that out loud was the worst part of the whole story.

We arrived at the dentist office and the dentist told him he came to the right place. He would fix it so it would look like nothing even happened.

"What?, "I asked? "Do you have tooth GLUE?!"

"Yes", he told me, "did you happen to find the tooth AND bring it in AND keep it wet? "

I told him, "yes! It's in the car in a glass of milk."

"Good we'll glue it. If you didn't have it I could glue on another piece to match." He said.

It takes a hard fall to break a tooth. He had a headache and felt pretty miserable. The dentist worried about other trauma. He said to watch for signs of concussion. The whole left side of his face was swollen by now. Little scabs would be there tomorrow.

After looking closer there was a small dot of blood coming right out of his tooth, the part still attached in his mouth. That was bad news. So he had to have anesthesia, and a small filling where the nerve was exposed. Half an hour later and leaving the office with a puffy lip, we were back to normal. I took several pictures of him with his tooth glued back together. Ah, Russell would have his smile. I love him and don't want him to be hurt or in pain. Isn't this my job? To be there while he grows up and not let bad things happen? Especially bad permanent things.

Over the next few hours I checked on it. I woke up during the night to pry open his lips and check if the tooth was still there. Yep, still glued on. All during the night I snuck in his bedroom doing this. But just for one night. The dentist said if it stayed glued for a year, he'd probably have a good chance of it staying put. The first year would be the test.

(This was the end of the story and I said over and over that NEXT time something bad happens I will remain calm. I won't flap my arms and say things I don't really mean...

Two weeks later I decided to make beef stew and french bread again. It smelled so good and we were about to sit down together to eat, but Tristan wasn't home from football practice yet. He was late. Too late. What if it was bad luck, I am so superstitious. I thought of the possibilities. Maybe Tristan is hurt. I shouldn't have made beef stew! Tom said his ride pulled up. Then I saw Tom come into the house holding only Tristan's helmet and football pads. I think my mouth dropped wide open. With worried eyes I asked," Where is Tristan?" Tom said something like he's hurt and at the doctor. I said something like,"Oh my gosh! I made beef stew! " He told me he was joking. So not funny. (I can laugh at it now!) Really his ride was the YM president who dropped off all the boys at the church to play in the Stake Flag Football game. Tristan was fine and would be home soon. Tom has always been a teaser and I am still not used to it.)

Over the next few weeks Russell would come to me and say little things like, "it hurts when I go outside with my mouth open." His new tooth was sensitive to the cold air. He had to be careful not to break it off again. For lunch we cut up his apple in thin slices. Same thing for his baby carrots. He can never bite hard things like that with his front teeth again. He can't just bite into an apple ever again. Like part of me died. I hate to see permanent damage on my kids. This isn't the first time. That's another story.

February 21st, Sunday morning. He woke up with his tooth hurting. He can't close his mouth because the other teeth might touch it and that would hurt too bad. He can't close his lips because they might touch his tooth and that would hurt too bad. Oh no! His tooth is turning dark on the backside. Tristan asked what was wrong. "It's dying" I whispered to his older brother. Not letting Russell hear me say that. It's dying.

He sat there in Primary like that, without his smile, without his lips or teeth touching his tooth. Poor kid. He felt miserable and I kept him on ibuprofen all day. When I tucked him in at night I noticed the swelling around the tooth was getting worse. I called the dentist office Monday morning. We came in and had x rays done. Nerve damage, infection and it's a little loose. Dr. Craig explained that it was dying. He said it would be silly to make a little itty bitty coffin for the tooth, so it needed a root canal to be saved. He walked us over to the Endodontist's office next door. This is where they work on roots all day, I explained to Russell. They are specialists that are good at it. He felt a little better, at least he smiled at me.

More x rays and it looks like the tooth's root is developed enough to have a complete root canal done. With his age it was going to be borderline. But hurray it was developed and formed. We would come back the next day to have it done. The Dr. needed to drill near the spot where the tooth was bonded. There was a 50 50 chance of the bonded part breaking off again. No worries, it can be glued on as many times as it comes off. We decided to have a contest at home of guesses. Would it break off during the root canal, yes or no. The winners would win a giant size candy bar.

February 23rd. Today is the day, but his appointment is not until later in the afternoon. Russell woke up with his face swollen more than ever. He has a headache and even his upper lip was huge. His eyes are red and wet. I gave him ibuprofen and told him to go back to sleep. He wouldn't be going to school with the other kids this morning. He had been reminding me for weeks about his concert today in music. He would be playing the recorder. He rested some more and was better enough to make it to the recorder concert at 10:30 a.m.. Recorders are played right there on front teeth! He did it anyway and is such a trooper. What sacrifice. His class sounded great. It was obvious they had practiced hard.

We drove to the appointment and he had more anesthesia. It was hard watching him be so brave getting the shots. The assistant wanted me with him during that hard part. I was glad I could comfort him. Then I watched the Endodontist drill up, up, up inside the back of his front tooth. He tried different sizes and with each size he would drill up up up so deep!

With my fainting history and the way I was feeling way too hot, I decided to wait out in the waiting room. Besides, Trevor was doing the potty dance by now. Without saying anything, Trevor & I left.

Finally it was completed. The Dr. came out and said it went well and he will start feeling better soon. No, it didn't break off during the procedure. Yes, he will probably end up with a post and crown as an adult. But for now it's strong and there.

We are so blessed. When I think back about it, it's such a small challenge. It really is so minor.

("It's just a tooth! " I tried telling myself. "But it's Russell's tooth, MY Russell's tooth and it's the tooth he was going to have when he's a grandpa!")

It feels like a big deal but it is really very minor. I mean he is healthy and happy and is learning and growing. Someday he wants to be an air force pilot. He came home from his root canal and drew some really nice looking helicopters. I told him I thought he'd be good at designing helicopters, or maybe he could be the guy that builds helicopters or maybe he could paint them right after they are built. He could design how they are painted.

Maybe he could do something safer. 

"No," he SMILED at me, and said, "I want to FLY them! "

Looking back it was so hard. I couldn't be brave when I needed to be. I am trying to raise him and protect him and bad things still happen. I need to be better. I need to be stronger. I want to be more like my kids who teach me. They remained calm, they prayed for him a lot. They know the difference between worrying about the things you can change and the things you can't change. They teach me so much. I love them so much! I feel so blessed.