When too much drama isn't enough.....

My poor baby lost one of his front teeth today! He went scooting with Sanj after our morning trip to the local cafe and Sanjay was at him to scoot rather than walk with the scooter. He was apparently going down a fairly gentle hill and braking really well when he took a tumble. His tooth came out, cleanly, there is a big gruesome gash on the inside of his top lip, a small graze on his forehead and the top lip is swollen, bruised and very slightly grazed. Sanjay called me straight away, before there was any clear idea of the damage (well, he'd picked up the surprisingly clean tooth from the pavement so he had *some* idea) and I was really glad that they were still with my family - my mother went into 'nurse mode' and calmed both Sanjay and I down considerably when she worked out that there was little likelihood of permanent damage. I'm really really glad the kid was wearing his helmet (or, as Asher calls it, his 'helment')

The bleeding had stopped by the time they got home (they were less than 10 minutes walk away). We gave him Panadol and got him to rinse his mouth with salty water a fair bit. This afternoon we called a family friend who happens to be a paediatric dentist. Apparently we did the right things - don't put baby teeth back in because it doesn't help, it can cause damage and there is a risk of infection. Check the gum for debris and if the tooth has been pushed up at all look for signs of broken bone in the top jaw (a line or ridge in the gum or something 'wrong' with the kids smile). Don't brush the area with toothpaste while it's tender just wipe the surrounding teeth with a cotton bud dipped in salty water. Then all you need to do is wait til the kid grows his or her adult teeth which happens, on average, at six-and-a-half. Meanwhile you have to look at you little one and their gappy face every single day and think about what you could have done to avoid the accident. At this stage poor Sanjay is beating himself up bigtime ('I knew he didn't sleep well last night and when he's tired he gets clumsy') and I am wondering if we should see a dentist before we go to Singapore (not sure why, just feels like we should get an official 'all clear').

It never rains but it pours, so the saying goes, and I've had enough of illness and injury around my kids!