AIBU to refuse my mother-in-law keeping my daughter's first tooth?

[GalileoFigaro]

DD just turned 7 has a wobbly tooth. Her first one.
My smother in law said that she was going to pull it out for her when she next saw her AND she was going to keep it in her little box where she has all her 3 children's milk teeth.

AIBU to say no she isn't? I feel that the tooth shouldn't be pulled and will fall out when it's good and ready. Also I'd quite like to keep my own child's tooth as a keepsake (a lot of mums do that, right?

AIBU and being precious or is MiL overstepping?

Clearly I'm a serial killer as I have the few baby teeth that my mum kept for me, and a full set of each of my kids' teeth - even the ones that had to get pulled by a dentist.

I also have their umbilical chord stumps.

I am autistic, though, so maybe that explains it!

It just feels wrong to bin something that was so important to them.

They will be gifted them?!

I have 5 dc and kept all of their teeth! Mil never asked for any of them though.

Haha same here 🤭 my eldest has only lost one tooth so far and I’ve kept it in a little box because I just thought that’s what I’m supposed to do 🤣? I haven’t looked at it since. But it is weird now I think about it? Same with their first lock of hair from their haircuts. I was handed a little envelope containing my youngest first lock of hair at his first hair cut and just sort of thought, oh, I’m meant to keep this am I? Is this what us parents do? Okkk then…

Re: keeping teeth and creepiness: I can’t remember the details, but once there was this American murder case where a decomposed body was identified because the guy’s mother had kept his baby teeth, and DNA from the corpse matched DNA from some dried blood on one baby tooth.

YANBU, OP.

Anyone seen the show (or read the book) Sharp Objects? Teeth are put to good use there...

It is common - but TBH even if you were going to bin it I still advise you to say no to MIL!!

Agree don’t let her see her until the tooth is out and explain why.

My stepmother found my milk teeth in a forgotten drawer and tried to give me them. After I turned them down and suggested she threw them away that is exactly what I thought she had done. Until my next chat with her when she told me she’d buried them in my mother’s grave.

Regarding pulling out wobbly teeth, this used to be a relatively normal thing when I was a child in the 60s. My parents never did it to me that I can remember but it was definitely a topic of conversation. I remember pushing mine with my tongue and twisting it to get it out myself.

Whether you keep them or not is a personal choice but I don't understand the people who feel sickened by the thought. There are some very squeamish people about.

Adults used to joke about tying string round the door handle and your tooth to pull it out when I was a child, but never did it. I don’t think it’s squeamishness though, just the tooth will come out when it’s ready and there’s no need to yank it out impatiently unless you are a dentist and there’s some reason it must come out

https://crownhousedentalpractice.co.uk/news/baby-teeth-dont-pull-them-out/

this seems fairly typical of dental advice if you google

I’ve kept my DCs teeth 🙈 I have no idea why but I just wasn’t sure what the protocol was and it felt weird chucking them in the bin.

I dare say I’ll chuck them at some point 😂

I didn't mean squeamish about pulling out a tooth. Some people have expressed squeamishness about seeing the teeth someone has kept.

I don't think anyone is recommending it other than OP's mother in law. It was a thing when I was a child but, given that I have adult grandchildren, I doubt if MiL is anywhere near as old as I am.

We kept all of our children’s teeth when they were left for the tooth fairy. They are all grown adults now who don’t give a fuck and we have a jumbled box of teeth with no idea whose is who. 😆

What to do with them? Seems weird to just chuck them after keeping them as a precious rite of passage all this time! But yep, this thread has made me realise how weird it is.

Oh I see - sorry!

Love this!

Keeping teeth is really weird.

When my dd was two my MIL scooped her up and said ‘I’m just going to take her to get her ears pierced’. Why she thought that was going to be OK I will never know.

Sounds like my thing😆

Personally I’d let her have it because keeping teeth is weird

She absolutely shouldn’t be pulling any teeth out! If it’s not ready your DD gum could be damaged and stop the new tooth growing properly and cause problems in later life!
I don’t have a problem if people want to keep children’s first teeth but MIL has no right to decide she having it!!

Fun fact: I still have some baby teeth - in my mouth, not in a novelty box - and can confirm they do change colour but don't break!

I've got Maryland bridges now for the upper ones but still have a premolar on the bottom. It didn't have a replacement adult tooth so just stayed put, 55 years and counting. I don't think the active shelf life for baby teeth is that long, they're not intended to last, so it will be interesting (ish) to see how long they do last for!

@GalileoFigaro Tell MIL DD's baby teeth are for you to deal with, not her. And toffee more effective than apples for removing wobbly ones...

I kept my eldest's teeth. Then I kept my youngest's teeth. Then I also kept teeth from my dogs, so now I have a box of random teeth with no idea who they belong to 😂

I've got my ds's teeth in a little box,I don't know why,it was the done thing years ago. Teeth fell out when they were good and ready though!

Absolutely. It's just weird