Toothgate

This is like Watergate, only Toothgate involves a single child, just one tooth and a very bad dental experience.

The experience wasn’t the fault of the dentist—she’s our neighbor, she’s great.   It wasn’t the fault of the staff—they were so composed and positive throughout.    It was really the situation and my daughter’s expectation about what might happen.    Come to think of it, this isn’t like Watergate at all—the name just sounded good so I went with it.

Let me recap the past to start.   My daughter has had a lot of doctor experiences.   They haven’t all been fun.   She has a lot of medical things done to her such as drops daily in both her eyes.    She’s a stoic little girl, but things do get to her and when they do—feisty, fearful terror appears.

My daughter has two lower sub-molars that didn’t form normally on the back half of the teeth.   There is a fold thing and a texture of the enamel component in play from what I understood, all of which led to two cavities in those teeth.    

We crowned the first one a few weeks ago.   She had Nitrous and did okay (emphasis on the okay, meaning she was manageable, but still quite upset).   This tooth was going to be a filling only.   She was find with the mask, breathed in well and was okay with the numbing swab but when the needle hit, she lost it.

I though she would calm down for the procedure itself but she fought us and we had no choice but to hold her down so Dr. Brooke could finish the tooth—she couldn’t leave the tooth in a half-completed state.

My daughter was combative with a metal dam in her mouth and a spreader keeping her jaw open.   She at one point explained it was hurting her lip, which we tried to help, but it didn’t help her state much.    We had to abandon the nitrous early on because you don’t scream and cry from your nose, you do so from your mouth, which meant she was getting no nitrous.  

She’s okay, and wasn’t upset much fifteen minutes after the procedure, but she’s going to see Dhruti in two days because I know she needs to work some of the fear out afterwards.  

Dr. Brooke said it’s common for a child to have a stronger reaction/response the second time they have a procedure.    There are other options involving more sedation, which we will do if she has to have any other dental work.   For now though, the two odd teeth have been addressed.

The Big Boy Update:  There was a discussion at dinner with my parents on who was the strongest.   My son told us, “I’m stronger than my sister because she’s lighter than a chicken.”

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter didn’t like how her cheek and lip were, “feeling jelly” as she called it.    She and I got a smoothie after the dentist appointment based on Brooke’s suggestion, which I think helped.