Adding insult to injury

1980-81, I was in First grade. I was playing "Follow the leader" with a couple of kids in my class. We each took turns jumping off of the wooden benches in the "Quad" (playground with no grass, just areas for Foursquare, Hopscotch, etc). Some how, when it got to my turn, instead of landing on my feet like a normal kid, I landed flat on my face. There are some sh*tty things that have happened to me in my life, but as for painful things, that may have taken the cake. My top front teeth did cut through one of my lips (I barely managed to avoid needed stitches), and I was in a great deal of pain. However, none of my teeth broke. I don't have the nicest looking smile- it's one of the things about me that I'm most self-conscious about- but I have my teeth.

33 years or so later, my Jack has managed to suffer an even worse fate. I'm still not quite grasping the hows and whys of it all. He was in the IS's room yesterday (Friday the 13th, of course), using the sensory swing (imagine a hammock thingie hanging from the ceiling. A child can get snug in there and it helps them to calm down). Jack was in the swing, and must have been really swinging around or something, because he smacked his teeth on the table nearby. "How in the actual $*@!" is what I am asking myself at this moment.

I had just barely finished typing out the rest of my last post, and then balancing my checkbook. I got into the tub for a quick soak before heading out grocery shopping. That's when I got a call from the school nurse, informing me that Jack broke ONE tooth.. they had the ONE tooth in some milk, Jack was calmed down, and I should call the dentist. So as I tried not to freak out, and my husband kept looking at me- and me at him - in a look of "WTF?!", I got dressed and called the dentist to get him in right away, having no clue yet what shape Jack was in.

I knew that when I saw him, I would be surprised.. but I was probably more shocked, dismayed, heartbroken, etc.. to see that he broke TWO of his teeth- they weren't just chipped. They were jacked up but good. Nobody said a whole lot to me before we left.. just handed me a baggie with milk, and what I realized was only one part of a tooth, because they only thought we were dealing with one broken tooth. (I'm feeling kind of pissed, honestly. Who the hell took a good look at his teeth and thought he only broke one??)

At the dentist's office, the girls behind the counter told me that they wouldn't be able to put the broken parts back on, and they don't do crowns at this age. So I sat there silently crying, feeling sad and angry. They didn't make it any better. The dentist wasn't much better. I mean, he had a good bedside manner and even offered his home number if I had any questions, but I realized after taking Jack to the Endodontist later in the afternoon, that he really didn't need to blow a full force of air on the ends of those broken teeth (with the pulp exposed) to find out if they were sensitive or not. Sigh. He put some kind of bonding agent on the ends of the teeth to minimize sensitivity, and told me that it may only last "to the car". But hopefully it would hold until I could get into the Endodontist, to have Jack evaluated for a root canal.

We were very lucky to get Jack in the same day. After looking at his teeth, she said that the one with the pulp/nerve exposed would die, and it would have to have a root canal. The other one we're still iffy about.. but she was nice enough to stay late to do the root canal at 4:30, after all of her patients were gone. (She's the one who did my root canal, and I saw her many times between my first and last visits with her, so I think she's great). It went smoothly, and he didn't even need nitrous oxide, like I thought he might. He didn't like when he got the first injection of Novocaine, but he was a real champ after that.

So Jack was out of school pretty much all day yesterday. I did get an email from the IS checking in on him (well, after I emailed to inform her that he broke two of his teeth, not just one), and then the principal left a voice mail, too. I'm not one for lawsuits, and the root canal wasn't that expensive, considering.. but I'm going to guess that with Jack not being able to get any permanent crown or anything at this stage, we may be looking at on-going dental work (replacing caps/fillings every so often for the next several years). This won't be cheap, I'm sure. I'm not even sure how I would approach the school with that. Do I want to? Is it appropriate? How much do I want to rock the boat when we're in a new school that is measurably better than the last one (all considered). This could have happened on my watch, too. As you can read, my brain is kind of still scrambled about all of this.