Although Jayden did not appear to be in pain anymore, the injury was worse than what we thought. A detail examination showed that the inner nerve was exposed and infection had began. If we leave them alone, the 2 teeth will eventually turn black and the roots will rot. Worse, the permanent teeth will be affected too. Dr Ja, the dentist, gave us 2 options : to extract them or to do a root canal treatment.

How would a mother's heart not break on hearing this?

Why him? How I wish I can suffer for him. My precious one, he is so little.

I surprised myself to be able to calmly receive the diagnosis, deliver it to KA, repeated it thrice to the rest of the family, and evaluate it objectively, although deep down inside, all I want to do is cry out loud. KA and I have made up our mind to go for the root canal treatment, even though there is only a 60% chance of recovery. Extraction, although recommended by the dentist, is far too drastic. It's like not giving him a chance at all. There are too many implications : his speech development, the jeers from his friends when he attends school, any inferior feeling he may have. No way.

The treatment has to wait a while till his runny nose clears. It will be a day surgery at Mount Alvernia hospital, and cost close to S$2K. The details of the whole procedure sounds too scary and painful, so I'll wait till the ordeal is over to write it down, to keep my imagination from running wild.

My dear friends, thank you very much for all your concerns. Please do take good care of your kids.