Coley Loses His Teeth

I was afraid this day was coming! Coley's front tooth has been slowly turning red over the past few months. He's seen a dentist for cleaning's two times and between the first time and the second his tooth began to turn red inside. The dentist said to leave it for now b/c it looked healthy on the xray and we didn't need to do an unnecessary root canal for simply cosmetic reasons.

After the father and sons campout with our church Cole came home and it was substantially darker, purple almost. So weird. So, I made an appointment for him and we went in today. The xray still looked fine, there was definately something happening inside the tooth but at first glance the dentist seemed to think we could leave it alone. Then he took that pokey thing and poked the back of the tooth. He popped a hole right in it and it started to bleed. So sad.

At that point we knew we couldn't leave it. My choices were 1) a root canal and a cap 2) remove one tooth 3) remove both. The dentist recommended both teeth out b/c that helps keep things even in the mouth. Sometimes when you don't remove both you get some shifting and spacing issues later. So, I agreed trusting he knew what was best.

45 minutes later the teeth were out. Cole was a champ. He didn't complain, whine, cry or even make a sound. The dentist said he did an awesome job. The numbing of his lip was the only thing that bothered him as the medicine wore off. But, it bothers me too!

He seems to be fine without them. I'm a little sad I have to look at those holes for maybe 2 more years until he gets his big teeth and since when does he get to get big teeth? There is no growing up past 3 at our house, doesn't he know the rule!

Well here are some pics. His last picture with a full mouth and then the extraction. Enjoy!