Shark Teeth!

Around November, Opal discovered that she has a wiggly tooth. She was OVERJOYED by this fact and it quickly became her favorite topic of conversation. Being the second youngest in the family she has seen dozens of teeth come out of the mouths of her siblings and has longed for the day when she would join the ranks of the "big kids" and start ditching her baby teeth for the far more exciting grown up versions.

We waited......

November came and went and the two tiny little teeth stayed put(much to Opal's dismay). Somewhere in mid December we noticed two bumpy ridges poking out behind Opal's baby teeth. The grown up teeth were growing in behind her baby teeth. We quickly deemed them Opal's SHARK TEETH. Opal was amused and distracted by this concept for about a week and then became obsessed with trying to get the baby teeth out. She wiggled and jiggled those little teeth most of her waking hours. She begged me to pull them out and as much as I tugged at them, they would not come out.

We waited some more.....

By the first of January, the grown-up teeth were almost fully grown in and the baby teeth were just not budging. In fact, with the other teeth right behind them(supporting them, if you will) they were really not very loose any more.

After some obsessing over the irrational idea of Opal going through life with a two rows of teeth and the growing fear that the baby teeth would somehow damage the permanent teeth by rubbing against them , I made an appointment to take her to the dentist.

Opal, being the fearless adventurer she is, was delighted to go to the dentist. She was so excited to tell Dr. Z all about her fabulously awesome shark teeth and quiz him on exactly when he thought she would be able to offer them to the fabled tooth fairy.

Opal happily sat with her Barbie sunglasses on as Dr. Z poked around in her mouth and examined the teeth in question. He then went on to tell my that the baby teeth needed to come out one way or the other.

He looked at me and said, " I can get them out, or you can just do it at home".

I looked at him blankly in the face for a moment.

I then explained to him that I had tried to wiggle them out.

He looked at me an smiled. "You will have to wiggle them harder..... really hard. And give them a good twist."

My face felt hot and the room started to spin a little.

My life-long fear of all things dental

coupled with squeamishness regarding the overall yuckiness

of what he was asking me to do

must have read quite clearly across my face

because almost instantly Dr. Z's smile turned into a smirk and he said with a chuckle, "Well......I guess I will be one to pull them out".

"ok", I promptly replied.

The procedure was swift. A couple tiny shots of novocaine followed by a couple quick tugs with a menacing looking dental tool and they were out. The nurse packaged the two tiny pearls in an adorable little pink box with a drawing of a smiling tooth on the top. Opal remained utterly and completely calm throughout the entire process. She stayed perfectly still and never budged or even let out a tiny whimper.

She was my hero.

Once the dentist had finished up he handed her the pink box and 2 coins for the toy machine in the hall. Opal happily hopped off the chair, clutched the little pink box tightly and showed it to every nurse and dentist we walked past on our way out of the office(all silently, as she had a large piece of gauze in her mouth).

Opal had been instructed to eat only soft foods for the rest of the day so we made a quick run to Target to pick up some yogurt and soup and even a small toy for her trouble(ie my parental guilt).

As you can plainly see by the photos, by the time we got home Opal was feeling great, two teeth lighter and counting seconds until the tooth fairy came.

Her mother was only a tiny bit traumatized.