For the Record

Max’s tooth is now dark because the nerve is dead, NOT because we don’t brush his teeth and now they are rotting.  Just want to put that out there.  A month ago we were at the park and Max was going down the slide head first when he smacked his mouth and bit almost clear through his lip.  There was a lot of blood and I could tell there was a huge chunk of lip hanging so we took him to the ER to get it looked at.  He thankfully didn’t need stitches, but they did have to numb him up so they could cut off the big chunk of lip that was hanging.  Gross I know.  Anyways, we had to clean out his lip with hydrogen peroxide every time he ate which was awful.  But the lip healed quickly and we thought we were home free.  Well, last week I noticed that all of a sudden his front tooth, right where he bit through his lip, had turned a dark grey color over night.  So we took him in to the dentist and found that the nerve in his tooth is dead.  Which sucks because it is his front tooth and you can see it when he smiles.  They gave us three options, none of which I like. 

• Option A- Pull the tooth.  He would be toothless for close to 4 years, or whenever his permanent front tooth comes in
• Option B- Put caps on his two front teeth.  I’m not a fan of this.  No offense if your kid has caps on his teeth,  but I think they look like chicklets.  They cant put caps on now anyways because he is too young, but said it is an option in a year or so when he is a little older.  
• Option C- Do nothing.  This is what we are going with right now.  They said if the tooth starts to get infected or abscess, they will have to pull it.  They also said it will most likely get darker.  But, they also said it could get a little lighter, which is what we are hoping.

So ya, all the options stink.  And now I feel like people will see his tooth when he smiles and think his parents let his tooth rot.  And it is his front tooth so whether we leave it, pull it, or cap it, it will look dorky.  But of course, he’s still cute.