The tale of the two lost teeth

It all started with a slight thud. Jamaine was looking inside one of the cabinet drawers when she smashed her mouth into the rim.

She was crying as she showed me her injured gum. The tooth that was right smack at the center was shaking a little bit. I told her to be more careful and to try to ignore her shaking tooth.

Number one

Fast forward a few weeks, Jamaine was playing with Kalia when she bumped her mouth into Kalia’s head. Don’t ask me how, I didn’t see how it happened because I was taking a bath at that time and the girls were having rough play with their dad.

Jamaine was crying as she showed me the tooth in her hand still covered with blood. We let her gargle some distilled water and the bleeding stopped.

I assured her that her tooth will grow back and she still looks beautiful. I also told her we’ll give her tooth to the tooth fairy. Maybe she’ll give you a gift, I said.

We watched Fairytopia a few weeks before and one of the characters there, the puffball Pibble, also lost his tooth and the fairy gave him a cupcake as a gift.

Jamaine said she only wanted a cupcake.

One day, I told Jamaine we were going to church and she asked me why we needed to go.

“We’ll go to church to pray for our family that we’ll always be safe and healthy. How about you what do you want to pray for?” I asked.

“How about we pray for my tooth to grow back,” she said.

Number two

A few weeks later, Jamaine lost another front tooth. The culprit: Kalia’s head.

We were at the tiangge and they were running around when they bumped into each other.

We could only come up with theories why Jamaine’s gums and teeth seem to be a bit weak.

The only logical explanation I could think of was she didn’t like brushing her teeth with toothpaste. Sometimes I could sneak in a few swipes of toothpaste on her toothbrush but most of the time she would wash it off right away.

Sometimes, she would be too shy to smile, perhaps feeling awkward about missing two front teeth.

I just saw to it that everyone in the house avoided talking about her teeth unless she asks about it. I wanted her to feel that it wasn’t such a big deal, that her teeth would, in fact, grow back.

I also reminded her that she needed to brush her teeth with toothpaste if she wanted the remaining ones to stay strong. Well, at least for the next two to three years when milk teeth is usually expected to fall off.

Our next step was to go to the dentist to have her teeth and gums checked. I knew this one was something we needed to prepare for. It would be her first visit to the dentist and I wanted to make sure it was a good one.

Has your baby ever lost a tooth prematurely? What did you do?

Next up: The first visit to the dentist

Tagged as: positive parenting