In my defense of what I’m about to tell you, it was my first time babysitting a special needs child, and was obviously my last.
I was babysitting Nathan; he was about 7, non verbal, homeschooled, and his parents needed a break. He was overall a good kid, but he had a habit of chewing.
No, not chewing; grinding.
His parents said it started when his first teeth started to come up. It started so early and with such force mom had to stop breast feeding; she ended up with scars and needed some reconstructive surgery. Even then he couldn’t even be left alone, or he would end with bloody gums from the few teeth he had. His parents tried teething toys, but he would always grind them to a pulp. He was in and out of hospitals until he got all his teeth in, and by then the doctors were able to make an orthodontic device. He still ended up with a lot of damage to his gums and teeth, but they’re hoping as his adult teeth come in that they can stop further nerve damage from happening.
The orthodontic device was relatively simple; a set of mouth guards with heavy silicone cushioning on the tooth side, and some sort of abrasive on the other. The idea was that if he started to grind, the material would rub up against each other, leaving some sort of bitter dust in his mouth as a deterant. They think it had some success, but because he was nonverbal it was hard to tell. Instead, they kept an eye on him to make sure he kept them on when he wasn’t eating. If he did manage to sneak them off, he would leave “shavings”; if he got ahold of a pencil, there would be bits of wood as evidence, or some paper pulp if he started grinding on books. Kind of like a new puppy.
His parents walked me through the rules, which started out pretty straightforward: liquid diet, so protein shake for dinner, then put his vitamins in yogurt for dessert. Dont let him take out the guards, and if he started to grind, get him to stop by yelling “Hey!” and getting him something safe to chew on; same way you would treat a puppy. He was allowed to take off his mouth guards to grind on a pre-approved item; he could grind on a carrot or beet, or a precooked frozen hamburger patty. Weird things for a kid to have, sure, but he didn’t actually eat them, he would just…grind.
It was the night ritual that fucked me up.
Before he went to bed, I was supposed to put another orthodontic device in his mouth. His mom showed me how to put it in. The night guard was a horrid thing; it was a new, singular mouth insert, like the kind a dentist would use to keep your mouth open, and it buckled in the back like some sort of muzzle. You know, like for a dog. His mom explained that he had a habit of taking his mouth guards out at night, do this was to keep his teeth apart to stop the grinding, while allowing him to breathe during the night . After some struggle, she eventually got him in a headlock. She got the thing on and fastened it at the back. Except for his sad, pleading eyes, he looked like a small Hannibal Lecter; he was clearly in distress, but didn’t make a sound.
His mom took off the night guard and his parents left for the night. We started with Paw patrol and protein shakes to start, then I gave him a few “snacks”: a beet and a frozen patty. Okay, he didn’t ask for them, but I was morbidly curious and wanted to see him in action. Sure enough, I watched him chew the food into pulp. It wasn’t chewing, really; he moved his lower jaw side to side in a grinding motion until there was a little pile of food pulp on the table. More paw patrol and off to bed.
It was hard; he obviously didn’t want it and ran away when he saw it. I caught him, but he looked at me with pleading eyes; you know, like a puppy. I knew I couldn’t put the damn thing on, it was barbaric, so I came up with a compromise: I’d put him to bed and stay in the room with him until he fell asleep. Then when his parents got home, I’d explain the situation and his mom could take care of it.
Three readings of “Goodbye Moon” and two lullabies later, he was asleep. I went to the living room and played on my phone for the next hour or two until his parents came home. Dad came to pay, mom went to check on Nathan, when we heard a blood curdling scream and raced to the bedroom.
Apparently, without his night orthodontics in, he managed to get the mouth guards off, and. Well.
Nobody told me he likes to suck his thumb.