R had described to Scott and he thought it was a great idea. He also thought yanking it out himself with pliers was a great idea. He wasn't really worried about either technique hurting, actually. He is either really brave or fairly naive, but either way I was impressed by his nerve.
He found me some string in his craft drawer and we looped it around his front tooth. We didn't really need to tie it tightly because it easily dropped into the gap between the incomplete root and the gums. He showed no reservations when I asked him if he was ready. His mom couldn't stand to stay in the room. Katie was way too interested to follow her out.
I slammed the door.
Instantly, I wondered if maybe I should have stood him another few inches farther from the door, since the string was still hanging from the tooth in his mouth, which had started to bleed just a bit. I asked him if he was okay, and if it was hurting. He said that it did hurt, but I think he was mostly reflecting my own worried reaction, because he didn't well up with tears or anything. Instead of dithering about to try the door again, I just reached in and pulled the tooth the rest of the way out. It gave way easily, so the door had done its job.
I was quite interested to inspect the tooth, since this is the one that was badly broken and then repaired a few years earlier, after an unfortunate wipeout at Calaway Park. It was evident on the backside where our trusty dentist had done his work, but from the front the fix was still pretty invisible. No, we could not see any trace of Spiderman painted on the back of the tooth, despite promises from the dentist that he would be sure to paint it on there if Scott held still during the procedure. We wonder if that dentist was pulling our leg the whole time.
Scott and this tooth have been through a lot. He certainly earned his dollar with this one.
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