Gracie's Lost Molar

Yesterday I got a phone call from Gracie, during work. She said she had lost a tooth. Gracie has lost almost all her baby teeth, so I teased her a little about it, but she didn't really respond. So, I asked her where it had fallen out of. She didn't know, she said. She then started to cry and told me that she didn't think it was supposed to fall out. She thought it was one of her permanent teeth. She was very upset. So, I went to the school.

She told me she had been chewing a cookie for lunch and it just popped out. It is her 2nd molar back on her right side. A girl sitting next to her, told her that one wasn't supposed to come out. Thus, Gracie was scared her teeth were just falling out. Poor little girl was so scared. I called her down and explained to her that the first 2 molars are baby molars and are supposed to fall out, to be replaced with dual fang looking molars, as I showed her mine in my mouth. "Weird", she said. I called the Dentist to make sure it was okay the 2nd one fell out before the other, to calm her further, and they assured her that they just fall out, there isn't a specific order.

Obviously she thought it felt weird. And she was afraid kids would make fun of her, because no one else had lost one. I told her to smile at the mirror, and notice that she couldn't even see that it was missing. You'd have to pull your lips to the side to see it. So that made her feel better. Oh the things that they get nervous about. She hasn't been feeling really well, so I think that added to her distress. But I got her calmed down and walked her back to class.

When she got home, she was in good spirits. She had only told one person about it. And they thought it was "cool". She brushed the tooth until it shined and made a little envelope for it and wrote the tooth fairy a note about how scared she had gotten. The tooth fairy wrote her a little note back and left her 2 dollar bills and a 1/2 dollar bi-centennial coin. Gracie was very excited.

So...lesson learned. Make sure your kids understand that those first 2 molars are baby teeth. They will fall out too, eventually.