Teeth Medicine
My son screamed for five hours straight.
I was half deaf and mostly insane with overfull, throbbing breasts that he refused to suckle. Without fluids or food for hours, I rushed him to emergency.
I was seen quickly due to the sound of the writhing, howling monster making everyone feel worse than they were originally. The noise reverberating so close to my eardrums meant I couldn’t concentrate on what the triage nurse was saying.
‘Did you even think to check his mouth?’
I said no, the response of a mewling weakling who felt totally chastened.
Three of four molars had erupted on the same day. His gums purple with pain, the tooth on the bottom right had only a speck of white piercing the skin. The other molars had three or four points up.
‘They don’t usually come through all at once.’ The bitch in white said, looking at me like I earned the world’s worst mother prize.
He’s not one yet, I thought it molars didn’t break through until 18 months.
‘Early,’ she snapped raising her eyes to the ceiling.
Things were easier once armed with Bonjela; the saviour of sore baby mouths.
There was really only that one day in hell with his teeth.
