The Tooth Saga

We made Shane Amish. He gets no electronics for fun until his tooth comes out. Suddenly, he's more willing to read, wants to play frisbee, board games, and all the things I offered before and he'd turn down. 

Sadly for him, I'm trying to be boring. I want him to wiggle that tooth or give us the okay to pull it.

He's being a wimp. You can see the adult tooth clearly underneath the baby tooth and it's hanging by a threat.

But Shane won't touch it and he won't let anyone else touch it either. "I'm worried about what will happen to my gums if you pull," he'll say. Or he'll wish it "would just disappear on it's own," because if someone tries to touch it, "It will hurt." He's also said, "I wish it could just stay in there."

I've framed it as, "This is a chance for you to learn to be brave." Shane's always been pain averse, but I can't remember ever having this much trouble with a tooth. It's tempting to just rip the damn thing out, but Carrie and I both really want him to do something about it.

Carrie's been telling him it needs to come out or it's going to hurt and cause much worse problems later. He seemed to accept the idea he'd go to the dentist and they'd use medicine to make it not hurt...until Carrie pointed out "That tooth is so far gone, they won't use medicine. Pliers and pull."

So, Shane's Amish to provide motivation. It's a siege. I think he'll eventually wear down and start bothering his tooth when he goes through electronics withdrawal long enough. 

Every time Carrie or I mention the tooth Shane complains, "You make me feel terrible when you bring it up!" or "You're upsetting me!"

To which my reply has been, "Too bad." The truth is the truth. It can hurt....but you can do something about it, too. Especially, if it's giving you painful warnings.

Carrie started the siege, but she's had the most trouble maintaining it. She put on an hour of Avengers: Infinity War one day. She really wanted to watch it and Shane got a quick dose. Carrie hoped it would be tantalizing, but he went off and still refused to let us touch the tooth. 

Kathleen texted that the cousins wanted to play Roblox. Shane lamented that he couldn't to which I replied, "So do something about it." That got a dirty look of "how dare you bring up the tooth!"

This saga has gone on since March. I wish Carrie had just taken him to the dentist that fateful Thursday, but maybe God wanted to give Shane a chance to work through his fears.

UPDATE:

Carrie was stressed about the lack of progress, so I told Shane he had until Memorial Day. He needed to work on that tooth or it was going to be pulled.

The children's church message (online) was about listening to your parents' wisdom and the skit involved a woman with a toothache who didn't want to go to the dentist.

It was God's perfect timing. 

From that point on, I worked on Shane all day. I'd say, "Wiggle time!" and make him work on the tooth. He'd stop the moment he got any sensory input. "It popped!"

"Good!" I'd reply. "That means progress! Do it again!"

I'd say things like, "Look, it's looser!" and "I can tell you made progress!" And to be preemptive, I told him, "If you get a metallic taste that's another sign of progress!"

Carrie decided she couldn't wait.

And, of course, she decided this ~25 minutes before Shane's Japanese lesson

Carrie tied floss around Shane's tooth as he tried not to cry. She was determined and he was deathly afraid. We didn't make the lesson (I logged in to apologize).

Carrie wanted to give it one quick tug and be done. She told Shane he was risking all sorts of problems, because he wouldn't deal with. So she would, and she'd do it quick and easy.

Shane didn't believe her. He cried and barely kept from panicking. He clutched at the floss with a death grip. "Don't pull! Don't pull! I'll wiggle it! Let me wiggle it!"

So Shane sat on the couch for over an hour (I kid you not). 

It was much more of a spectacle than it should have been. Shane prayed for strength while choking back tears. He babied the tooth, but wiggled it enough for Carrie to sit on the couch without yanking. His outlook started to improve as he played with it.

I eventually got bored of sitting and watching Shane twirl his tooth. I took a gross picture for your viewing pleasure.

Shane jumped and shouted with joy when the tooth came out. He ran around the house shouting, "I'm free!" with Loki in chase.

And so ended the tooth saga....temporarily. The orthodontist took a look at Shane before we got sick and recommended TWO teeth be pulled (the dangling one and it's mirror on the other side that didn't seem loose yet!).