How would you feel about School Nurse pulling tooth?

jamibride2be · February 2009

Ok so my 7 year old came to me on Sunday night and said his tooth was loose so I put my finger on it and it barely wiggled, so was by far not ready to come out. The next morning I checked again for him and it was still in really tight, almost as if it wasn't going to come out for another 3 weeks or so. Well he went to school that day and came home and said the nurse pulled his tooth! I am pretty upset about it, I'm not sure if I should just get over it or if I have a right to be upset at the situation. How would you feel if the nurse did this to your child?

katie277s · February 2009

Wow. I don't understand why she would have done it unless there was a reason for her too. Did your DS tell you what happened? I wonder if it loosened up at lunch time or something?

brightning · February 2009

I'd be furious. And at our school, the nurse isn't even an RN. That is an unnecessary medical "procedure" and I'd for sure be making a call. I'm not sure what I'd say, but I think that was completely uncalledfor.

Evil Widgets · February 2009

Why did he go see the school nurse? I think thats an important topic you didn't include in your background.

Alibabs · February 2009

Holy cow!! I'd be very mad!!!!!!! Thats just wierd that she would do that!

Schweb · February 2009

how does your child feel about it? Was it traumatic at all for him? If so, I would be pretty furious. If not, I would be somewhat concerned. I would want a phone call first.

springmom · February 2009

We had a teacher growing up (not nurse that i was aware of) who was the official tooth-puller. ?All the kids thought it was an honor to have her pull your tooth :-)

?Why did the nurse pull his tooth? ?Did he go to her complaining???

jamibride2be · February 2009

Well the thing is he told me the night before that she would pull kids teeth if they went to her office and I told him she better not try to pull his teeth. I guess he went down there, and he said at first she told him it wasn't ready to come out and then she just kept prying at it until it did. He wanted the tooth fairy to come, but she should have called me, and I just don't even think it is right for a school nurse to do that.

Evil Widgets · February 2009

jamibride2be:
Well the thing is he told me the night before that she would pull kids teeth if they went to her office and I told him she better not try to pull his teeth. I guess he went down there, and he said at first she told him it wasn't ready to come out and then she just kept prying at it until it did. He wanted the tooth fairy to come, but she should have called me, and I just don't even think it is right for a school nurse to do that.

Eh...I dunno then. He wanted his tooth pulled. He was in on it.

springmom · February 2009

I'd be pissed if she pulled a perm tooth :-)

IDK, he knew what he was doing when he went in there, so I'd take it up with DS. ?Maybe tell the nurse thanks for pulling that one, but he is not to have any more teeth pulled by her unless there's a note from you.

Maybe I'm just way too laid back about this.?

kjlrs · February 2009

not okay with me.

jamibride2be · February 2009

Yeah that's kind of what I thought. But he is 7, so I also think that is a choice the parent should make for him not the nurse.

EXL311 · February 2009

If the nurse knew it wasn't ready to come out she shouldn't have even tried to pull it out even though your DS wanted her to. Heck even if it was loose I don't see why that was her decision to make without speaking with you first.

brightning · February 2009

At that age, kids are not capable of making decisions like that. I would call the school and ask to speak with someone other than the nurse and explain the situation. That realllly would not be OK with me.

jamibride2be · February 2009

Yeah I just called her to speak to her about it. She said that his teacher wrote a note and sent him down there. She said it was really loose by the time he got to her. So I said well when he left that morning it was not loose enough to be pulled by someone, and he said when he got to you, you said it wasn't ready. She defended herself and said after she messed with it for a min. she realized it was. She acted like I was being difficult because I asked her if she could make a note to please call me in the future before doing something like that in the future. I'm really mad about it for some reason. I know it was a baby tooth but she isn't a dentist,and I am his mother and didn't even think it was ready to come out. Arrggh.. Thanks for the opinions and advice I really appreciate it.

mrsterry · February 2009

I wouldn't be upset at all. At age 7, my DS was pulling his own teeth out at school. He's not traumatized and there was no harm done. It was a loose tooth and he wanted it out. No big deal....IMHO.

MrsStubbs · February 2009

Wow, it's just a tooth. I don't see the big deal at all. From what I have seen with kids, they would not let someone pull a tooth unless they wanted them to.

jamibride2be · February 2009

I guess my point is I dont' think it was ready to come out and I don't think a school nurse shouldn't even put herself in that spot. I was just reading where another womans daughter also 7 went to the school nurse and the nurse actually left pieces of the tooth in the mouth which caused a serious infection. I guess it's one of those things that think god it turned out okay but without her being a dentist or having any certification for that matter their could have been some serious complications.

jamibride2be · February 2009

MrsStubbs:
Wow, it's just a tooth. I don't see the big deal at all. From what I have seen with kids, they would not let someone pull a tooth unless they wanted them to.

jamibride2be · February 2009

Yeah I guess you're right it's just a tooth, who cares if the child gets some kind of infection from it not being done at the appropriate time or done correctly. You're right very insightful. thanks!

DandR · February 2009

jamibride2be:
Yeah I guess you're right it's just a tooth, who cares if the child gets some kind of infection from it not being done at the appropriate time or done correctly. You're right very insightful. thanks!

Hahahahahahah...you asked a question..poeple gave an opinion....and if it isn't the SAME as your's you acuse them of sarcastically of being insightful.

It's just a tooth...an infection? what are the chances....pretty rare, I would guess. If it was loose at all it is ok to be pulled. If he really wanted it pulled it probably bugged him. What if he ate an apple at lunch or something hard and it got a LOT looser between the time you checked it in the morning and the time the nurse pulled. What if he was being disruptful in class and not focusing because he was playing with his tooth.

I'd be fine with anyone pulling my kids teeth...and school nurse I'm SURE is equally qualified as you are.

jamibride2be · February 2009

I was NOT talking about all the posters just the one who said it is "just a tooth"

And I agree she is as equally qualified as I am but I made the choice that it wasn't ready. I know I asked a question and I got answers I was just simply saying that with your children, it is not "just a tooth" as the previous poster had said. I agree with everyones opinions as I have mixed emotions on the subject, but I disagree with the fact that it's just a tooth and teeth aren't a big deal.

jamibride2be · February 2009

Yeah that's the best part! haha the tooth fairy. Well last night my DS was up until 1 in the morning! He couldn't sleep he laid in bed all night, finally I fell asleep and when I woke up this morning he was standing their crying because the tooth fairy didn't come!

talk about feeling like a bad mom! I told him it was because he didn't sleep last night she was afraid he would catch her, but maybe if he sleeps tonight she will come! Anyone else not perform their tooth fairy duties?

jamibride2be · February 2009

Yes I agree. I always loved my school nurse. I just called and asked for more information on what had happened, and told her I appreciated her trying to help him out but I would really like to be called before something like this happens again in the future. I understand the importance of the relationship between the school and myself, and how that will reflect onto my child. She did act a bit mad that I would ask for her to call before pulling anymore teeth, but really I'm the parent and she needs to respect that.

stacynikki · February 2009

springmom:

I'd be pissed if she pulled a perm tooth :-)

IDK, he knew what he was doing when he went in there, so I'd take it up with DS. Maybe tell the nurse thanks for pulling that one, but he is not to have any more teeth pulled by her unless there's a note from you.

Maybe I'm just way too laid back about this.

Ditto!

Hooray2005 · February 2009

After reading all these replies, I'm getting the sense that deep down this really has nothing to do with teeth, and rather about who has the right to make decisions regarding your child's care. It seems like you feel the nurse stepped over the line and made a decision (with your child's support) that you weren't comfortable with her making.

It seems like rather than squabbling about whether she should have done it or not, the larger issue is what to do if a similar situation presents itself in the future, and in this case, it seems like a gentle conversation with the school about how you would like them to handle non-emergency medical situations needs to happen (i.e., "with the following XX exceptions (e.g., putting a bandaid on a cut, taking a temperature) please do not take any non-urgent medical action without discussing the issue with me first, please")

Was this your little guy's first loose tooth? I can also see this being an "I missed out on getting to be the one who shared the first lost tooth" moment - kinda like when parents get upset when their child starts to roll/crawl/walk while in daycare and the provider tells them about it, rather than just keeping it to themselves and letting the parent think they're the first to see it.

Sorry you missed out on that experience, if that's part of it

jamibride2be · February 2009

Thanks! Actually I did call the school and have a talk with the nurse because you are right it's my choice on whether he needs to have something done like that not her choice.

And haha no way was it "I missed out" he has lost a TON of teeth... (I'm actually going to have to take out a loan for this last one because the tooth fairy is out of dollars JK) so no it wasn't like that at all. Just the fact that it wasn't really loose and she pulled it without atleast calling me to ask. If he went to the dentist where I took him to have something like that done it would be one thing, but he went to school, she's a nurse that's not really her job to decide if his tooth needs to come out, let alone pull it from his mouth.

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