A Dental Tragedy

Being sons of dentists, my boys live by two rules:

1.  Brush and floss daily as if your life depends on it

2.  Don't do anything that could permanently damage your teeth

And a third rule universal to all is never dive head first into shallow water.
Unfortunately Marcus must have had a lapse in his mental capacity because he managed to break two of these rules.  He dove into the shallow end of the pool (he said he was belly flopping NOT diving) and chipped his tooth on the bottom of the pool. The lifeguard blew her whistle and yelled at him, adding to his embarrassment as he ran to me with tears streaming down his face.  He was crying so hard he could barely confess to breaking one of the cardinal rules.  I took one look at his tooth and called Randy who conveniently happened to be in Rhode Island during this dental emergency.  He was devastated.  He probably cried too.  Randy told me to get Marcus to a dentist ASAP, regardless of the fact that we don't have dental insurance.

Luckily for us, our Oki/dental friends are here so I took Marcus straight to Nick's office (also where my dad's wife works so we've got the hook-up) and the tooth looks better than ever.  This whole experience cracks me up because I'm sure all the women at the pool who witnessed the drama were wondering what the big deal was.  But for us, teeth are a very big deal.  Randy had Nick take X-rays of the tooth so he knows exactly how long it will be until he has to perform a root canal on his son.  He also told Marcus he isn't allowed to eat anything really cold for the next two weeks which means no more popsicles.  I'd say that's a pretty good punishment.