Unwanted Variety

I was in the middle of a 5th grade class yesterday--the students were writing vocabulary sentences on the whiteboard--when I noticed one student (a polite one) had his hand raised.

I assumed that either:

     *he had a vocab question

or

     *he wanted to go to the front desk to ask a Korean teacher a question

or

     *he had an urgent need to use the bathroom

However, I know (or should know) that assuming things is never good.

"Yes, what is it?" I looked at him and asked.

He said, holding up two fingers with something pinched between them, "I broke part of my tooth."

Now, granted, his English response was very good, but I thought, "What the %&^*^?"

We were not doing UFC wrestling/fighting in class, nor were we engaged in any form of physical contact, yet this student showed me a tiny ( less than a pinhead) piece of tooth.

Variety in teaching is usually good, yet this kind of variety I don't need nor want.

How can a student break a tooth while sitting at a desk?

I took him to the front office for verification (especially in case his mother called the school after he got home) . . .

Ye gods, what next?