Mamelons

I put up the below picture of my son’s erupting tooth not that long ago.   I haven’t checked to see the progress but I learned something about teeth tonight.

We were at a birthday party for our neighbor, Whitaker, who turned four today.   His father is my dentist.   I walked over to see my husband showing the above picture to Walter.   Walter told us the tooth should be coming in behind the baby tooth, not in front.   He also said, “and those little bumps are called mamelons.”   

I had remembered adult teeth coming in on children but I know adults don’t have them on their permanent teeth, so what happens?   In a child’s mouth, the teeth and bite change rather radically over the span of a few short years.   They have teeth falling out, new teeth growing in, molars adding additional teeth to the mouth, not to mention a jaw that’s growing at the same time. 

During this time children have irregular bites and can hit their teeth together.   The mamelons typically get knocked off during this period of growth, which is why we don’t have them as adults.   

The Big Boy Update:  At the birthday party we went to today I was very proud of my son.   He was playing so well with all the children, including being very good friends with Whitaker, who he sometimes decides is a little young to play with.   At one point a child came over crying, saying my son had pushed him.   I calmly got my son’s hand and walked him over.   My son knew the drill and explained what had happened.  Apparently the other boy had been trying to fight the other girls and the girls didn’t like it so he stepped in.   He said it wasn’t nice to hit though and asked the other boy if he was okay.    He made me smile all night, especially watching him play chase with an eleven-month-old boy who could barely toddle but wanted to be involved with the big children so badly.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   My daughter got annoyed at us making noise in the car the other day and yelled at us, saying, “Stop it guys.  You’re bothering me.  I can’t think!”