OT- I'm not ready for this yet!!

[JodyLynC]

One of my DDs has a loose tooth. She is only 5. I didn't think we'd have to worry about this until age 7 or 8.

I hate to say this, but I am terribly nervous about it. I don't know why?

Any advice or friendly stories to tell??

 

[blackforest]

One of my DDs has a loose tooth. She is only 5. I didn't think we'd have to worry about this until age 7 or 8.

I hate to say this, but I am terribly nervous about it. I don't know why?

Any advice or friendly stories to tell??

Don't sweat it! At least you noticed it was loose! DD5 (now 13) lost hers on her 5th birthday. We were getting ready to go out for dinner and I was washing her face, when out pops the tooth, blood everywhere! I'm crying thinking I had ripped it out of her mouth, DH goes to look it up on the Internet to see if its too soon! (Apparently NOT!) And my DMom walks in and starts to cry because "her baby is growing up"!

This is one tooth we will never forget!

 

[kpadalik]

My DD lost her tooth in February of this year (she had just turned 5 the previous December). The tooth was wiggly for a while and I was nervous about it falling out and the blood, etc, too. I told her that it will come out when it is ready and it might bleed a little bit but that it was totally normal. She actually did really well with it and then one day she said it was REALLY wiggly and I told her how exciting it was! I am very squeamish so the thought of her pulling it out herself gave me the eeby jeebies! She went and looked in the mirror and just wiggled it a little bit and - POP! - out it came! It did bleed a little bit but she was so excited - and so were we - that she forgot about the bleeding. My only advice - make sure you have money in the house. I very very rarely carry cash on me and I just assumed that my DH had money on him. So when it came time for the "Tooth Fairy" to visit, I opened his wallet. All he had was a $5 and a $20 bill!!! So instead of getting the preplanned $1, she got $5!

 

[dislal]

My kids where all 5 when they lost their first tooth so I think it is pretty normal. Good Luck, and if the tooth fairy will come to your house lets hope she is not as forgetful as she is at our house. Sometimes she doesn't come on the first night.

 

[zoemurr]

My DD had her first wiggly one for awhile. She finally lost it on Christmas morning. She put it in a small cup on the counter. Later in the day she said it wasn't there? When we asked her what happened, she said she was playing with it? We looked all around and didn't see it. Then, I realize that the trash can (full of Christmas day turkey guts) is sitting under the counter. I dig through it until I find the tooth at the bottom. She's 9 now and will be hearing about this for a long time!

DS lost his first tooth "naturally" at 5.. at 4 he was doing gymnastics in bed, fell, and knocked his face on a doll bed on the floor. He knocked out a front one. Talk about blood.. you guys haven't seen anything! Oh yes.. but the day he cracked his head open was even worse..

 

[sohappy]

My son was 2 months shy of his 6th birthday when he lost his first tooth. I have no idea how long it was loose. I know it was at least 2 months. His other tooth was coming in and forcing it out. I was so worried that he was going to lose it on vacation with his dad. He lost it at summer camp, so neither of us got to be there! He and another kid collided and it just popped out. His second tooth came out a few weeks later when his dad pulled it. He has a top tooth loose right now, but refuses to wiggle it. Secretly, I am hoping that he waits until after Christmas to lose it.

 

[cruiserkaren]

My dd5 wants a loose tooth SO BAD! I don't! She's my baby. I don't want her growing up.....(insert mommy whine!)

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Funny you should mention loose teeth! My youngest son is 10 and has lost his share of teeth already. Yesterday at the orthodontist, the Dr. noticed a loose molar. He said he would leave the arch wire off of that tooth until it came out. We didn't realize just how loose it was! My son wiggled it all day and said it started bleeding at school but still didn't fall out. After dinner, he said it was really bothering him. I got a flashlight and told him to push it sideways so I could see how far it could go. The darn thing was literally hanging by a thread. When he pushed it, I could see the bottom of it! I told him it had to come out tonight. So he sat there and pushed it back and forth until it finally came out! He was so relieved! It's under his pillow right now. I'd better go remind the tooth fairy to come tonight!

 

[squirrel]

My niece just lost her first one last week. She will be 5 on Tuesday.

 

[susykt4]

My daughter lost her first tooth a couple months before her 6th birthday. We were in Target and had a bit of drama over the small amount of blood. My son just turned 6 last week and has been wiggling all his "unloose" teeth, hoping for a loose one.

Keeping a stash of tooth fairy money is a brilliant idea! I've been so desperate I've "stolen" money from my daughter to put under her pillow from the tooth fairy. I've also taken money from my son's stash for the same purpose. I've also rummaged around under the seats of my car at 2:30am for loose change... I used to use the stupid dollar coins I got as change from buying stamps from the machine at the post office. Now that the machines take only debit cards, I NEVER have any cash!

 

[Starr W.]

Both my kids started at about 5. The 7 yr old lets them hang there forever, hardly any blood(he's had 3 come out at school in the last year).

Now the really scary thing is when the new teeth don't really push the baby teeth out and you have to have them pulled. My 12 yr old needed 4 yanked by the dentist. Thankfully he's done, and with all the new teeth in they closed the gap in front. No braces !


Gosh if you are worried about blood, just hope your kid doesn't slip climbing up the slide and banging his chin. I got the call from school last year on that! He hardly cried and we have a great nurse. But to have to trot your baby over to the urgent care. Thankfully they used the liquid stitches on him.

 

[MiniGirl]

Losing teeth are exciting for kids. Mine are always so happy when they discover a loose tooth.We've never had more than a couple of drops of blood with one and even that is rare. Really.... don't sweat it, but decide now how much the tooth fairy will leave because if the tooth fairy gives $5 for one both girls will expet that every time. Our tooth fairy brings the "gold" dollars here. My girls love them.

 

[JodyLynC]

Thanks for the good stories. I don't know why the idea of a loose tooth is bothering me so much. We've had bloody noses and such that I handle quickly and calmly. I guess the idea that a loose tooth takes time to come out bothers me. Everything else happens and you act right then and there. No thinking. With teeth (unless knocked out) you wait and worry!!

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

My DDs lost their first teeth at ages 4, 5 and 5. It's fine. Oh the stories I could tell. Everything from loosing 2 teeth when a sled hit DD's mouth while sledding (and having to follow the red blood line in the snow to find the 2 teeth, yes I found them and yes, they were loose.) A knocked out first tooth when a friend of mine bumped her mouth reching down to hug her. A lost tooth in the pool at ASSp. I just realized all these were the same DD. She is a very easy tooth looser. Last Wednesday she got her starter braces off. The orthodontist said he could not give her the retainer he had planned on using because she had a molar on each side that was loose and would not hold the retainer in for long. He said a month from now they could be out. She lost one Sunday adn one Wednesday, within one week they were out. They go from "hey mom this one's feeling a little loose" to "hey mom, I lost another tooth" in about a week. We are headed to Disney next week, I aske her if she is just pulling out teeth to try and get more spending money.

Anyway, your fine, 5 is no problem. It is kind of sad though, a big changing stage. I love little teeth smiles and miss them, but every new stage is exciting and you will enjoy this. Just don't ever forget a lost tooth and go to bed, that's tragic. I did that only once with one DD, I grabbed the money and "found it" under a stuffed animal. She fell for it, so it was OK, but boy was she sad at first thinking the tooth fairy didn't come!

 

[WantToGoNow]

My ds7 lost his first tooth at 5 -- he's lost 8 now. My dd4 will be 5 in a few weeks. She can't wait for her first loose one.

 

[ilisao]

Thanks for the good stories. I don't know why the idea of a loose tooth is bothering me so much. We've had bloody noses and such that I handle quickly and calmly. I guess the idea that a loose tooth takes time to come out bothers me. Everything else happens and you act right then and there. No thinking. With teeth (unless knocked out) you wait and worry!!

What exactly are you worrying about? It's a tooth. They fall out.

My daughter lost her first when she was 5; we don't know what happened to it. DS (6) just lost his first. We also don't know what happened to that one. No biggie.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

With teeth (unless knocked out) you wait and worry!!

What is there to worry about? I would be more worried if my child didn't have any loose teeth. It's a natural occurance. All baby teeth fall out. There is no trauma involved. Maybe a quick bout of pain when the tooth is coming out, but then that's it. The pain is gone once the tooth is out. I would stop worrying and just make this milestone excited.

PS: The more worried you are/seem, the more stressed your DD is going to be about it.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

My DS7 lost his first tooth at 5 years. It was loose for about 6 months. He wouldn't pull it out. One day he was talking to me and we heard a noise on the floor, we looked down and there was his tooth. My DS6 just started loosing teeth at 6 1/2 years old. He now has his two front teeth missing. He looks so cute.

We go to the bank and get foreign coins for the tooth fairy to bring. My kids love collecting coins from other countries. Some of them cost only 5 or 10 cents. Oh and one time the tooth fairy got stuck in a snow storm and didn't come until the next night. Oops!

What do you all do with the teeth. DH thinks I'm crazy, but my kids teeth are all stored in my desk in my closet. I feel bad throwing them out.

 

[mjkacmom]

I've known 4 year olds who have lost teeth. We're late teethers here - dd12 lost her first tooth in 2nd grade, and is NOT patiently waiting on 4 teeth to fall out, so she can get braces, and have hope that they won't be on for her senior prom. The only issue with early teethers is that the longer permanant teeth stay under the gums, the healthier they are, so just make sure to get a professional cleaning every 6 months, and regular brushing.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

What do you all do with the teeth. DH thinks I'm crazy, but my kids teeth are all stored in my desk in my closet. I feel bad throwing them out.

LOL...OK, here's the deal. Do not EVER allow your kids to find those teeth even as adults. When my sister and I were teenagers, we were snooping around my parent's bedroom. (I have no idea why, we were nosey) We found a glass jar full of baby teeth. It really freaked us out. It was disgusting. My mom had 12 kids, so you can imagine how may teeth were in this jar.

Keep the teeth if you want, but take them to your grave and never let the kids see them.