Mommy, my teeth are broken

Yes, those words are about as heart-stopping as you would imagine when you hear them coming from your 5-year-old. He has been complaining of his teeth hurting on and off for a few weeks, but it was very intermittent, and I could not trace it to anything other than his "big teeth" shifting in his skull. He started saying his teeth were broken on Thursday, and again that they hurt. I ran my finger along each of his teeth, feeling for anything abnormally sharp, but found nothing. I decided to see if it continued over the weekend, and if it did so without any obvious cause, I would call the dentist on Monday.

Again Saturday night, before bed, he complained of his teeth hurting and that they were broken. He was sticking his finger in the back of his mouth trying to show me. I finally grabbed a flashlight and took a peek. Sure enough, I saw jagged tooth points sticking out of his gums, but they were so far below the level of the rest of his teeth that I did not notice them by touch during my previous check. I had a very brief moment of panic, until I realized they looked largely the same on both sides. Somewhere in the back of my brain, the phrase "6-year molars" floated to the surface. Google confirmed that there was such a thing, usually putting in an appearance between ages 5 & 7. Maybe that explains some of the general crankiness of late. It may also explain his restless sleep of late. His 2-year molars coming in nearly killed us all. He was *so* miserable! Hopefully a little Children's Motrin at night going forward will help until they have completely come in.

Currently feeling: toothy