Oh someone help me. Ds7 is FREAKING OUT over his loose tooth...

[*********]

So, a little back info...

 

He's lost both his bottom front teeth. But, they were different. For those, the permanent teeth were coming in BEHIND the baby teeth, so the baby teeth didn't get very wiggly. For both of them, we had the dentist numb him a bit, and then pull them. It didn't hurt, just an 'ouch!' from Zee, not even tears. Nothing traumatic about it.

 

Ok, now his top front tooth is wiggly. Very wiggly. The permanent tooth is coming in right above it, like it should. So he's gonna loose this one the 'normal' way. But he's FREAKING OUT. He was just playing with his brother, and did something that jerked his tooth a bit, and it started bleeding a TINY bit. I tried to reassure him that it was normal, and that the tooth might bleed a bit here and there as it became looser and looser (at least, that's what I remember from losing my teeth, right?). I encouraged him to wiggle it, but he won't even let me TOUCH it.

 

He seems really upset about the whole thing. He wants me to take him to the dentist to have it pulled. I tried explaining to him that the way this tooth is coming out is the NORMAL way kids loose teeth. I don't think he's buying it. He seems really weirded out by it all.

 

Anyone ever have a kid react like this? This is all new to me. Not really surprising, in a way, since both my boys are, um, let's just say 'quirky'. Zee has transient tics, and Moose has SPD, so I'm kinda used to 'different' behaviors, and don't usually make much of them. But this one, well, I just don't know how to reassure him.

 

We don't do the tooth fairy, but we talked about what that was, and he's excited that we're going to let him put his tooth under his pillow, then daddy and I will replace it with money while he's sleeping. But I think he's gonna totally WIG OUT when the time comes that the tooth falls out...

 

Ugh. Sometimes, it's exhausting to have such unique children. :)

Edited August 24, 2010 by bethanyniez

[MamaT]

My 11yo son was like that with his loose teeth. He wanted them all pulled as soon as they were loose at all. :confused: We explained to him that it would really hurt and he had to wait. So, he wiggled and fiddled with it until it could be pulled. He just could not stand having a loose tooth in his mouth. With his last ones, since he was older, he did nothing but pull on his tooth until it was ready to come out and then pulled them himself! After this first one, your son will probably see that it is not SO traumatic to have a loose tooth come out and handle the next ones more calmly.

[Sugarfoot]

What helped here is having a bunch of cousins near the same age going through the same thing, and "family stories." I actually use these quite a bit around here for various things. I tell the kids little scenes from my childhood that relate to whatever they're going through.

 

For instance, the winter that I was in the 2nd grade, it seemed like, at least once a week, someone in my class lost a tooth. That Christmas, in fact, I had both front teeth missing, and so many people sang that song to me, "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth..."

 

Kids were constantly wiggling teeth in class, biting into an apple at lunch, pulling on a loose tooth, having a friend wiggle a tooth for them, showing others how loose a tooth was, actually losing a tooth and then getting a wet paper towel from the sink in the corner to stop the bleeding, etc.

 

My kids love to hear this sort of stuff. It reminds them that everything they're going through has happened to everyone before them, and the world won't stop spinning now, LOL.