Upper Frenulum

Maybe you haven't hear the word Frenulum before, but you know what it is. It's that piece of skin that connects your upper lip to your gums.

Owen has been doing so well on the stairs lately. So a couple day ago when I was making dinner I wasn't too worried when I realized he was crawling up and down our stairs to the basement. I was almost done with dinner when he fell. I rushed to get him and immediately noticed his nose was bleeding a lot. I got him cleaned up and he only cried for a couple minutes. He went back to playing. A couple minutes later I picked him up, he opened his mouth and there was blood in it. I thought he must have a cut in his mouth. He still has no teeth so I knew he didn't bite anything. As I searched around his mouth I found the source of all the blood...the place where his frenulum used to be. When he slipped he must have been on his tummy and his upper lip rubbed the carpet so hard that it tore his frenulum...and he got a bloody nose. Poor guy. I have felt guilty since. One of my neighbors is a doctor and the other a dentist. They both said this happens a lot and they usually heal really well. I just have to make sure it doesn't get infected.

He has been surprisingly fine. The big difference is his smile...it's not the same.

Before

After

His cut frenulum hangs down, but I think it is just because his upper lip is swollen. It looks a lot better now, than in this picture.
Something interesting...my frenulum was torn was I was younger too. I can still remember it well. My older sister, Julie, and I were sharing a 7up (it was one of those long-neck glass bottles). I was chugging it (probably taking more than my share) and Julie got mad, so she popped the bottom of the bottle while it was in my mouth. She tore my fremulum. I'm still a little bitter about it...ok, no, not really. Owen's is torn worse than mine was though. Oh---I still feel so bad.

On a happier note...here's a cute video of Owen dancing.