on a routine early orthodontic visit to screen odin for things we might be able to do to prevent braces later on, we discovered that his permanent maxillary canines were trying to move into place to push out the baby teeth but were impeded by some rather large roots that weren’t going anywhere.

if we didn’t do anything the canines could come through crooked or become impacted, so out they came! as usual odin was a trooper, and the worst part was the pinch from the shot of procaine before the pulling began.

as you can see, wikipedia isn’t lying when it notes that the maxillary canine has usually the longest root of any tooth in the mouth!

someone from my family will remind me of the specifics of snowdeal family history with canine teeth. was it three sets? whatever it was, i don’t think odin inherited it despite having a hardy root on his baby teeth.