# Baby Teeth



## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

My six year old has starting to lose his baby teeth. Everything I have read today says let them fall out on their own. We have pulled 3 now and it's one hell of a fight. Should we continue to pull them when they are loose?


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

As a kid my mom would take me to my friend, Jordan's, to play because she had a trampoline. Within five minutes of playing my loose tooth would get knocked out. 

Other times she'd give me hard things to eat to help knock them out.

I see no harm in pulling them if they are already hanging by the fleshy thread. Just be careful not to tear his gums.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I have 5 kids who have lost or are currently losing baby teeth. We leave them be until they are loose enough to pull by hand without tools are other inventions. So far no issues or braces needed.


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

I've been worried if we didn't pull them out he would a messed up smile. We haven't pulled them until they are pretty loose but not hanging. Thanks for the advice! I never had kids until him and was rarely around children before him.


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## Jewel (Sep 6, 2014)

It's my opinion that they should be left until they fall out on their own or the child can wiggle them out themselves. I raised my son and my niece and nephew, all 3 are adults with beautiful healthy smiles.

Pulling them out too soon can cause problems such as dry socket.


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## Justaguy987 (Mar 2, 2013)

What does everyone do with the teeth after they are out or after the "tooth fairy has come? Do you keep them or throw them? If you keep them, what do you do with them?
signed,
a parent that is starting to have a collection of teeth but not sure why.


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## jeff47041 (Jan 5, 2013)

We always left them fall out on their own, or at least waited until it's driving the kid nuts and they wanted it pulled. By then, they're just barely hanging on. A little oragel helps a lot.

The lovely one has every one of our kids teeth in her jewelry box. She doesn't know why...


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

jeff47041 said:


> We always left them fall out on their own, or at least waited until it's driving the kid nuts and they wanted it pulled. By then, they're just barely hanging on. A little oragel helps a lot.
> 
> The lovely one has every one of our kids teeth in her jewelry box. She doesn't know why...


I wondered what people did with the teeth


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

We toss 'em in the trash. Keeping teeth is, well, creepy (IMO). We also don't keep hair, fingernail clippings, scabs or other things that come off or out of them.


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## Jewel (Sep 6, 2014)

I have all my son's baby teeth in a little jar. and I have more reasons than just keepsakes. Nothing wrong with keepsakes either though


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Justaguy987 said:


> What does everyone do with the teeth after they are out or after the "tooth fairy has come? Do you keep them or throw them? If you keep them, what do you do with them?
> signed,
> a parent that is starting to have a collection of teeth but not sure why.


My mom made a small pillow with a velcro closure for me to stash the tooth for the tooth fairy to come. Now that I am grown I know it was a way for her to keep the teeth after I was finished loosing them. I know I'll find it when the day comes for me to clean out my parents house after they pass.

I know 'back-in-the-day' small silver boxes were sold for parents to keep the teeth as a remembrance.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)




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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Jewel said:


> I have all my son's baby teeth in a little jar. and I have more reasons than just keepsakes. Nothing wrong with keepsakes either though


Keeping milk teeth became a wide spread practice when infant and child mortality rates were very high. They were a part of the child that didn't really decay the way flesh does. For this reason hair and teeth (sometimes bone) were used in art work to memorialize the child or family member.





































More Victorian Mourning Jewelry


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

Grimm said:


> Keeping milk teeth became a wide spread practice when infant and child mortality rates were very high. They were a part of the child that didn't really decay the way flesh does. For this reason hair and teeth (sometimes bone) were used in art work to memorialize the child or family member.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's more than a little creepy!


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

hashbrown said:


> That's more than a little creepy!


I have mourning jewelry from my mother's family when they immigrated to the states. My family still keeps some of these practices. My mom has a lock of my hair as a baby and a lock from when I was 25 framed hanging on her wall. She also has a lock of her mother's hair she cut at the funeral. I had one of my wisdom teeth turned into a necklace.


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

I wish my momma would have saved my hair from my haircuts so I could make myself a wig!


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## Jewel (Sep 6, 2014)

Grimm said:


> Keeping milk teeth became a wide spread practice when infant and child mortality rates were very high. They were a part of the child that didn't really decay the way flesh does. For this reason hair and teeth (sometimes bone) were used in art work to memorialize the child or family member.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've seen them and death portraits and masks. Creepy things they are. The only picture ever taken of my sister who died as a baby was her in her coffin.

They're starting to do that again as well. Not my thing though.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Jewel said:


> I've seen them and death portraits and masks. Creepy things they are. The only picture ever taken of my sister who died as a baby was her in her coffin.
> 
> They're starting to do that again as well. Not my thing though.


I recently saw a photo album put together by a professional photographer for a couple whose daughter was still born. It looked like those portraits that are trendy right now with the cutie newborn and the staged props. The difference was the little girl was dead. Sad to say the least. I couldn't handle looking at those photos. And I am in to morbid things! (I use to have a Victorian infants coffin topped with glass as a coffee table when I was single.)

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-sty...res-mourning-stillborn-baby-article-1.1890515


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

On a lighter note..... I got to be the toof fairy last night!


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

hashbrown said:


> On a lighter note..... I got to be the toof fairy last night!


How much did Jr. make?


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

Grimm said:


> How much did Jr. make?


2 dollars!


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

hashbrown said:


> 2 dollars!


Really?!?

For one tooth?


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

Yes, he carries his weight around here.


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## jeff47041 (Jan 5, 2013)

I think $2 is a good amount. 

There is a lock of my hair from my first haircut in my baby book. 

One of my nieces died last year. She was in her 40's, but lived to be a princess. She would throw princess tea parties and invite all of the little girls in our family to attend dressed as princesses. At her funeral, all of the little girls wore their princess dresses. Lots of the little boys dressed as princes. At some point, they all gathered around the open casket, and got their picture taken. I kind of liked it, but kind of didn't.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

I knew a guy who saved the teeth he’d lost in bar fights. I thought it a good thing. With his skills he was going to need them for dentures!


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## Jewel (Sep 6, 2014)

Hashbrown, did you wear wings and a tutu? Congratulations to the boy!

It was always a big deal for my son, after he got over the initial terror of a stranger sneaking into his room while he slept.


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

Jewel said:


> Hashbrown, did you wear wings and a tutu? Congratulations to the boy!
> 
> It was always a big deal for my son, after he got over the initial terror of a stranger sneaking into his room while he slept.


Nope.... I wore a pair of skinny jeans and a polo with a popped collar.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

hashbrown said:


> Nope.... I wore a pair of skinny jeans and a polo with a popped collar.


It could have been worse...


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