Aidan's Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Aidan has had a loose tooth for about 4 weeks now. It has been very exciting and since it has gotten very wobbly in the past week or so I have been checking it after school each day just to make sure he didn't lose it at school without realizing it. It had been looking just fine up until yesterday afternoon. When he showed it to me the gum around the tooth looked really red and when he moved the tooth some gunk came out from under it. The tissue right around the tooth looked white and the whole thing looked terrible. I, of course, freaked out a bit and thought it was infected. I called the dentist at the US Air Force base an hour away and although he was in surgery he took a break and called me back within ten minutes. I thought this was VERY impressive! Anyway - he calmed me right down and said that if you push on the surrounding gum and pus comes out from around the tooth there is an infection, otherwise it's probably just food stuck underneath. BUT if food is getting under then there is a good chance of infection developing so the tooth had to come out. He said he would be happy to see us the next morning or I could do it. Since it is an hour drive each way and I knew it would take about 15 seconds to do I thought that I would do it myself. I had him rinse with ice water for a few minutes and then sprayed some Chloraseptic throat numbing spray on it since we didn't have any anbesol. It took me 3 tries but I got it out and he felt no pain - he didn't even realize that I had done it until I didn't go back in to try again. I was shaking but stayed really calm for his benefit and he was so excited. He said, "You're a GREAT dentist, mom! I've been waiting my WHOLE LIFE for the tooth fairy!!!!" We put the tooth in an envelope so the tooth fairy would be able to find it easily and guess what? The tooth fairy came last night. He got up early this morning - something he NEVER does and came running into our room with the money and note that the tooth fairy left him. His big toothless grin lit up the room! He's now the hero of the Kindergarten being the first one to lose a tooth - street cred for a 5 year old!