tooth woes for kids
my friend is touring europe with her family. while playing, one of her daughters had part of a tooth come out, and it hurt, so they had to schedule an appointment with a dentist in a non-english-speaking country, and the remaining piece had to be pulled. the brave girl made it through it all ok, and only cried a little, to which i say that is one amazing kid.
getting a tooth pulled ANYwhere is scary stuff, even for a rational adult. we know what to expect, generally, and know that the scary dentist is not out to hurt us, but still we worry. being a kid and having dental work done is a lot different.
when i was about 10 or 11, i fell on the ice on the playground at school, face forward, chipping both of my front teeth (one worse than the other) and also chipping the corner of my jaw. i was petrified and bleeding. i had to walk 4 blocks to the dentist by myself, and my mom was going to meet me there.
needless to say, everything was ok, but i was scared. my dad had problems with his front teeth and i was so scared that i would, too. they were already huge and i had a big overbite, and they were crooked -- (this was before braces). i was sure i was going to look more grotesque.
the doc filed the bottom of one to make it smooth again, and crafted a new bottom to the other so they matched. as for the chin, for a few weeks i had a tiny piece of bone floating in the corner of my jaw. now, one corner is rounded and the other is square. i never noticed a problem until the past couple weeks. keeping a goatee trimmed to be symmetrical kind of a challenge.