Bye, bye tooth!

When Connor was 3 years old, something happened to his right front tooth (the dentist called it tooth E...). We don't remember if he hit it on something or what--his tooth turned gray for a few months, but we didn't do anything about it and after a while it tuned back to the normal color. Well, a few weeks ago Connor woke up saying his tooth hurt. The gum above tooth E was red, but didn't look unusual, so I went ahead and sent him to school. A few hours later, the school called and said that Connor's tooth was really bothering him so I went and picked him up. By this time, his gum above the tooth was very swollen with a weird gray spot that look like some kind of blister and it was painful. I called the dentist and we made an appointment for the next morning. Over the next hour, the gum swelled even more, so I called the dentist back and they agreed to see him then. They took an x-ray, examined the tooth and gave Connor antibiotics for 10 days. The dentist said that it was one of two things: the tooth is slightly loose, so sometimes food, like a popcorn kernel gets stuck under the gum and causes an infection, or because of the trauma the tooth experienced when he was 3, the tissue inside could be dead, causing infection. He said if it didn't look much better in 2 weeks, he would probably have to remove it. Yesterday, Connor visited the dentist again. They did another x-ray, examined the tooth and decided that it did indeed need to come out. His gum above the tooth was still a little red and slightly swollen and the x-ray showed that the tooth was changing inside. So after some serious numbing, the dentist took something that looked a lot like a wrench and pulled his tooth right out! Connor was very brave and excited that the tooth fairy would be making a visit. Unfortunately, the dentist said the permanent tooth may not come in for 6 months! Oh well, we'll just have to start calling him toothless Connor!