The Toothless Fairy

Some of you know the story about Toothless Fairy, my 8 year old daughter. For those of you, who don't, here it is in a nutshell.

When she was two years old, TF fell off a chair and chipped one of her upper front teeth. Everything seemed to be alright, until she was about four years old, and started complaining about pains above her tooth. Soon after that our pediatric dentist confirmed a cyst above that chipped tooth.
During an operation to remove the cyst, the surgeon found that the cyst had formed around what was going to be her permanent tooth. The cyst was removed, the tooth placed back into her mouth. And we were warned, that we might run into trouble with this tooth along the way.
Trouble did arrive, when last year her baby tooth fell out, and the permanent tooth made no appearance at all... ever. X-rays showed this tooth was there, but had no root. Our dentist didn't want to rush anything and told us to wait. We waited. Then we went back, did new x-rays, and still got the same picture. But now the tooth also blocked the tooth right next to it. We were told, that it was likely that they'd have to remove TF's "dead" tooth and put in an implant eventually. And of course the tooth to the left would have to get some help.

Today we had a consultation with an orthodontist. More x-rays were taken.
The result? THE tooth is alive and well, and it has a fully developed root. Plus, the tooth next to it broke through a few weeks ago.

Now what? Toothless Fairy will get braces in August to put the other teeth, that have started moving around, because they have too much space, back into place. In a few months, during a minimally invasive surgery the alive and well tooth will be pulled down slightly. They will attach a little wire, and the braces will consistently keep pulling the tooth down, where it belongs.

All of this should not take longer than about one year! This means, in less than a year, my Toothless Fairy, will no longer be toothless, and a new nickname will have to be in order.

What a relief! I cannot even begin to say, just how glad I am that my child will have her own tooth rather than some implant. Sure, there is more important stuff in the world. But I know already, that this child will always have a very special appreciation for her teeth.

Oh, and I should mention how cool she and her friends think all of this is. Braces now come in silver and gold. She has chosen gold. And she gets to have different colored rubber bands on all of her brackets. Maybe I'll start calling her Crazy Bracy... or something like that.