Crooked Smile

Sunday my daughter looks at me and smiles. I love her smile but this time I stopped in my tracks. No, I did not pass out from her cuteness. She is 10 now I have gotten pasted that point. I merely get little flutters now. Perhaps I am a little weak willed and agree too easily, but I no longer go to complete jelly when faced with her smile. But I digress.
She flashed her pearly whites at me and I noticed she had broken a tooth. She had broken what I now know is a central incisor or the top front most tooth on the right. It wasn’t a bad break. Actually it is more of a chip. Of course she had no idea what she might have done to cause it. So on Monday I called the dentist, and he was able to see her only an hour after I called. I was impressed with that.
At the dentist office, they took her back and x-rayed her tooth. It was structurally fine- no cracks or nerve damage or any other serious thing that my mind could cook up. He just smoothed it out and sent her on her way. I was so relieved.
Not only was I worried about her needing a ton of dental work I was worried how on earth I would be able to afford a ton of dental work. I had visions of my sweet little girl as an old woman and living in a trailer park with black and missing front teeth telling the news crew about the tornado all because her parents were too poor to pay the dentist when she was 10. I have these same fears when she uses the word nudist instead of newest. As in “This is the nudist fashion.” or “Check out my nudist shoes.” or “Did you see the nudist Batman movie?” I just want to scream- Batman is not naked! Anyway…
The damaged tooth is now a tiny bit shorter than the other, but with it all smoothed out you can’t really tell. That is unless you are her mother or her dentist. Her smiled is a little bit crooked, but still just a cute as ever.