Earlier this school year (as a parent, I no longer think in "calendar" years; I think of a year as August-May.), one of my children needed a shark tooth removed. Shark teeth are basically when the adult tooth grows up next to the baby tooth and the baby tooth does not fall out. They are extremely common in this household. Some people deal with earaches and colds; we have shark teeth. (Fun fact: I hardly ever have had to help with the removal of loose teeth. Dentists have to remove them for us all the time.) Our children's dentist has odd hours for shark tooth removal: school hours. There's a hierarchy of pain + suffering that I consider when it involves missing school. I am not a "sure you can miss today" Mom. We do NOT leave to go on vacation. Therefore, being of the mean parent variety, I insisted my child not miss half a day of school to remove a tooth. So, I brought the child to my dentist. I really like my dentist's office. My kids are now