A week ago from Wednesday, we had, what we refer to as the Flying Walkie Talkie incident. It all started when Laney and her friends tied plastic bags to the arms of her stuffed monkey and were "parachuting" him over the second story wall above our entry way. On the tragic final decent, a walkie talkie perched on the wall, was inadvertently knocked off with it and plummeted down as the dangerous companion to "chatty" the monkey. Elayna looking up to soften the fall of her beloved Chatty, got more than she bargained for directly into her mouth. From my perspective all I saw was Chatty with it's parachutes hit Laney in the face, along with a "chink sound." The next thing I knew, Laney was holding her mouth wailing and blood was pouring out into her hand. As we rush into the bathroom I couldn't help but feel a little frustrated and confused at first, as I thought "what the heck did they tie to that monkey?" As I helped to rinse her mouth out, between gasping sobs, I heard something about a walkie talkie, and turned around to see it on the floor beside a mangled Chatty. Then I realized what happened. Suddenly the severity of the situation became clear and I remembered the "chink" sound. Her hand opened up to reveal a large piece of one of her teeth. I desparately tried to get her to open up long enough to determine which tooth it was, and my worst fears were confirmed. It was one of her front permanent teeth.
A myriad of thoughts flooded my brain. I saw her fat bloody lip, and imagined how it must have felt to catch a descending walkie talkie with one's teeth from 15 feet below-- poor little Laney. Then I thought about her busted smile, but quickly comforted myself that modern dentistry could fix anything and her beautiful smile would be restored. Then I remembered, we didn't have dental insurance and I thought "oh, **** this is going to be expensive!"
The bleeding subsided fairly quickly and her lip didn't look like it need stitches. Being after 5:00 pm I knew we weren't going to the dentist that night. We reviewed some online information and were reassured it was a fairly common break and quite fixable. Still, we mourned the fact this was a defining moment in her eating habits. She would need to be careful the rest of her life.
As the trauma subsided and she perked up we reflected on how the stars aligned freakishly, turning a potential bump on the head into a cosmetic job.
The combination of her lip and broken tooth made her look like we abused her and I have to admit I am grateful it wasn't the normal face hit the pavement story. Because when asked how it happened, the humor of the story deflected what might have been "Do I need to call CPS?" thoughts.
We had to be telling the truth, because honestly, who breaks their teeth from a flying walkie talkie?
That Fateful Night
I called around the next morning to some places with many good reviews and found a cosmetic denist reffered by a hygentist over the dentist she currently worked for. I took that as a good recommendation. They couldn't get her in for a week. By then her lip had healed, which I'm sure that made the office visit more comfortable for her.
Off to the Dentist
A little Nervous-- You and me Both, babe!
The Damages
After he talked about what he was going to do to fix it (basically shape the missing piece and bond it to the tooth), the hygentist came in with the invoice. I braced myself for the worst. I looked down at the price at the bottom and about died.... thankfully from relief. $315!!! She asked me if that was okay, and I casually said yes, resisting the urge to say "are you sure that's right? " Inside I thought "oh hallelujah! Where do I sign?"
He did a great job, You can't even tell, and it looks and feels just like her other tooth!
It's amazing what an hour and a few hundred dollars can get you! Her ancestors would have been at higher risk for survival thousands of years ago and here she is, smiling and laughing like nothing ever happened.
Oh the joys of modern dentistry!
