Tooth Tale

Max at the dentist

Sometimes kids have cranky days. Sometimes they are whiny and they cry at the drop of a hat. Sometimes their siblings and friends and parents can't seem to do anything right. And sometimes this starts to wear on moms. Sometimes they lose their patience. Sometimes they run out of empathy because they think their kid is being totally unreasonable and not acting like a six-year-old should act.

Then sometimes it turns out the kid has a double tooth infection and has been in excruciating pain all day.

And a mom feels like a really bad mom for being so unsympathetic.

Max had been complaining of tooth pain intermittently all day on Monday, but besides being cranky he didn't seem to have anything serious going on. Most of the day, he played and drew like he usually does. But around bedtime he seemed to be in some real pain. He fell asleep but woke a couple hours later in tears, saying that his tooth hurt really bad. We gave him some pain medication and put him back to bed, and finally after a restless start to the night he fell asleep for good around midnight.

In the morning, he didn't wake up until almost 9:00! I went in to check on him right as he opened his eyes, and he looked at me and burst into tears. His lip was badly swollen and his tooth was really hurting him! I started calling around to dentists and I managed to make an appointment for the afternoon. By then Max was acting a bit like a zombie, following me around and doing what he was supposed to do, but talking in a whisper and moving pretty slowly. He seemed to be in less pain but he was definitely not himself!

The first dentist we visited took an x-ray, took one look at it and sent us right over to a children's dental specialist. They rearranged patients to get us in, and when the children's dentist saw the x-ray and saw Max, he went directly to the receptionist to have her start rearranging his schedule for a tooth removal! The soonest they could get him in was next Tuesday, but he prescribed an antibiotic to take care of the infection until then.

We got Max's prescription and started him on the antibiotic yesterday, plus regular doses of ibuprofen, and today he is acting and looking much more like himself! I think he has forgiven me for my lack of sympathy on Monday, and I coddled him plenty yesterday to make up for it. Now we are looking forward to next Tuesday morning, when the teeth will come out and Max will have a gift for the tooth fairy!