When she was only 8 years old she was struck by a car, injuring her arm and knocking out her top two permanent front teeth. Even Santa couldn’t comply with her “all I want for Christmas” wishes of bringing her two new teeth, because her mother was not able to follow up by taking her to the dentist due to lack of transportation. The nurse sent several referrals over the year and talked to mom, but to no avail. Although all children naturally lose their front teeth and it is cute to see adorable toothless smiles, this child realized that nobody in her class had missing front teeth, so she rarely smiled big open mouthed smiles and her confidence began to plummet. At 8 and 9 years old she normally had a difficult time keeping track of her medicines that were sent home, glasses, school supplies and other possessions; therefore, the nurse was hesitant about taking her to get costly partial dentures that the patient could easily lose. Finally, the nurse gained consent to spend the time twice to take her to the dentist herself. It has now been about 8 months since she has received her new front teeth. She hasn’t lost them and she often stops in just to say “Hi” with her beaming, beautiful smile!
