Toothless

I don't even know where to start! My sweet little boy no longer has a left front tooth and won't for probably another 5 years. His missing tooth isn't even the worst part. He completely bit through his bottom lip leaving a huge piece of open flesh that needed to be stitched back together. This past week I've been at my parent's house with Caden. Clint came up on the weekend to come get us. Sunday morning we were getting ready for church and Caden was up and playing. He wanted some fish crackers so I got him a bowl of crackers and had him sit on the bench to the kitchen table to eat them. He plays around on this bench all the time and gets on and off easily because it isn't very high. I went into the other room and then about a minute later I heard him scream. I ran into the kitchen and found him sitting on the floor and bleeding a ton from his mouth. I picked him up trying to console him with blood running everywhere and at the same time yelling for Clint. At first we didn't really know what the damage was except that his lip was bleeding pretty bad. Then after a few minutes of crying my dad and Clint noticed his tooth was missing. We weren't sure if he needed stitches, but got him calmed down after a while by turning on his favorite movie...Cars, of course. Luckily I have a dad and brother-in-law who live in Yakima and are both dentists. We couldn't find the tooth anywhere so according to my dad the tooth was hiding somewhere on the floor, Caden swallowed it, or it had been driven straight up in his mouth and was still there.

We decided to take Caden to an oral surgeon in Yakima, which was actually a blessing because he is in my parent's ward and we have known him and his family for a long time. I felt safe taking him there and had a lot of trust and confidence in the surgeon, especially since Caden would most likely need to be sedated. I don't think I would have felt that way had this happened in Corvallis because we really don't know anyone like that here. I'm sure there are good oral surgeons here, but I was glad to have someone we knew. On Monday we got Caden in to the oral surgeon. He couldn't have anything to eat or drink just in case he needed to be sedated and have stitches. I was pretty worried about this and I didn't know how Caden would handle being refused any food or drink. He did surprisingly well and only asked a few times for something and didn't seem too upset when we told him he couldn't have it and tried to distract him with something else. He was pretty hysterical when the Dr. looked at him so he could determine what needed to be done. He told us that he couldn't tell if he had bit completely through his lip, but that he definitely recommended stitches on his outer lip. He was also going to take an x-ray of where his missing tooth was and look for any tooth fragments that may have gotten stuck other places. He also wasn't sure if the tooth was missing or if it was still there. 

After Caden was looked at, we waited about 45 minutes then took him back so he could get stitches. I felt so bad for him. He was so scared and didn't want to be in that room because he knew something was coming. Finally he was sedated and about an hour later the surgery was done. Once they got inside they found that he had completely bit through his lip and that the force of the bite drove his left front tooth up inside his mouth. They removed the tooth and stitched up his inner and outer lip. Caden will most likely have a scar on his lip, but I don't know how much of a scar it will be until it heals.

I've decided that Caden is a tough little boy because he refuses to take any of the prescription tylenol, but seems to be completely fine. He just gets irritated when I try to clean his face off and he gets upset because he can't eat exactly what he wants. Other than that he is doing really well today and back to playing with all his toys. I've also decided that he should be a pirate for Halloween since he has part of the costume already...a missing tooth! I really am sad that his tooth is gone, but I'm glad everything is ok and eventually it will come back. I guess he's just one step ahead of the game. Don't kids think it's cool to lose their teeth when they're older? I think everyone will just be jealous that Caden was the first to lose one.

So we still don't know exactly what happened, but pretty much the only conclusion I came to was that he slipped off the bench and bit his lip on the way down. I keep telling myself that this would have happened even if I had been in the same room with him. I don't think there would have been any way to stop a fall like that unless I was standing right next to him with my arms out.   

Caden spent most of Sunday watching shows with Clint and snuggling with his blanket that had blood all over it. Luckily I got it in the wash before bedtime. I couldn't stand him sleeping with a bloody blanket!

AFTER stitches (He looks drugged up, but he's not!)...