Tristan's Torturous Tooth part 3

“Oh no,” Doc said. “We’re going to have to keep a good eye on him.”

“Did you get to see whether that little crown even fit before Tristan swallowed it?” I asked “I can always make another one.”

“I’m not so much worried about the crown,” he said. “We need to keep an eye on if that thing comes out the other end and pay attention to his breathing. If it doesn’t come out or he shows any trouble breathing, he’ll need to be taken in for a chest x-ray to make sure it’s not lodged someone important.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that,” I said.

Meanwhile, while we awaited news from Tristan’s south side, I got busy making a new one. I had a new crown halfway made before my phone rang.

“Russ, this is Tessa,” she said. “Guess what? I found it. It took two days but I found it.”

“Whoa!” I laughed. “I didn’t think for a second we’d ever see that thing again.”

“The worst part was that we’ve been feeding him this new bread lately,” she said. “It has all these different kinds of seeds in it and he’s not really digesting them, so he has all these things in his diaper that look like they would be tiny teeth.”

“Ha, I suppose they would be about the same size,” I laughed. “I’m not sure I really wanna know how you actually found it.”

“You don’t,” she laughed. “We have an appointment to seat it tomorrow if you want to come for that appointment. Dr. Grant said they have things to clean it and sterilize it real good.”

Of course I’d be there. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I was ready to see this project all the way through.

Round two went a lot smoother than round one did and after another torture session on poor Tristan, that tiny little white tooth was in place. It was roughly the shape a natural tooth would be. I say roughly because the thickness and shape of it, on top of the fact that it wasn’t a whole lot more than a painted metal sleeve on his tooth, made it so nobody would ever mistake it for a natural tooth. Still it wasn’t a bad little chomper. Doc seemed impressed that we successfully got something in there and I was surprised I was able to guess so closely on the size and shape of it.

“How do ya think it will do?” I asked once Tristan and his parents left the office.

“Honestly?” Dr. Grant answered. “I’m kind of surprised we made it this far. If it’s still there in a month I will consider this a huge success.”

It not only made it a month, but Tristan is still walking around with that little thing in his mouth after nearly a year and a half. Someday it will fall out with the rest of his baby chompers, but until then, Tristan has all his teeth and I’ll be proud of my little work of art every time I see my little boy playing with Tristan. Plus, I’m back to being his buddy’s dad instead of Mr. Torture. True story.