My son has shark teeth: His permanent teeth are growing behind his baby teeth. 
Apparently this is pretty common (another SmartParenting blogger recently dealt with this too), but I admit I’m baffled. Don’t baby teeth just fall out?
Not always. It turns out there are a lot of reasons why some kids’ baby teeth are tenacious. One is genetics. Another is impatience. Some kids are more aggressive at wiggling loose teeth. In my 7-year-old’s case, he needed encouragement from the dentist to start wiggling and twisting his three loose teeth.
In fact, she pretty much gave him an ultimatum this morning.
She told him to loosen those puppies, because if they’re not gone by Halloween she's going to have to extract them. When he heard this meant getting a shot in the gums, he clamped his hands over his mouth in awe. And he’s been wiggling those teeth like crazy ever since!
Right now he looks really goofy – his front tooth is at a crazy angle, kind of jutting forward – and I’m thanking my lucky stars that school pictures aren’t scheduled for another month. I was worried that the permanent teeth coming in so far behind their normal position would mean braces, but apparently that worry is premature. Often the permanent teeth grow into their natural position without help, even if a couple of those 20 baby teeth lingered too long.
And I did take solace from learning that some kids even have three sets of teeth, meaning they will have another go-round with this. At least once these first 20 are gone – probably between ages 11 and 13 – we’ll be done with it. He’ll have most of his 32 permanent teeth and I’ll be done with my fear of sharks.
By Amy De La Hunt, Health Blogger for SmartParenting
Amy De La Hunt is a journalist and editor who lives in the St. Louis metro area and works across the country as a writer, copy editor, project manager and editorial consultant on everything from fiction books to monthly magazines to blog posts. When she's not chauffeuring her teenage sons to activities, Amy is an enthusiastic amateur cook, landscaper, Latin dancer and traveler. Follow Amy on Instagram @amy_in_words
At this free art program for ages 3-6 the focus is on the process of making art rather than the finished product. Dress to get messy!
See the Zoo's California sea lions perform acrobatic and athletic feats, including Olympic-style dives on a high-diving platform, flipper walks, frisbee tosses and plenty of surprises. While on stage with the sea lions, the Zoo's trainers explain sea lion behavior and positive-reinforcement training, in addition to the need for conserving the sea lion's ocean habitat.
Enjoy live music as you indulge in a variety of foods from popular food trucks.
Bring your babies and toddlers to this free story time at the Missouri History Museum.
