I Feel Nothing

We’re doing our best with the children and their teeth.   They brush, floss and swish twice a day (unless my son is late this morning and we let him go with clothes on but without his teeth brushed).  We have a dentist recommended special toothpaste that requires a prescription for to help my daughter who has two teeth that don’t have the full enamel covering on them.   We don’t let them have gummy candy very much because it sticks to their teeth for a longer time and we have them drink water, not juice.

We do let them have dessert though.   And candy sometimes.   And probably a lot of other things that could be detrimental to the health of their teeth.   But on the whole we’re trying to do what we can to instill good dental hygiene habits for their lives.

And yet they’ve gotten some cavities.  I don’t know if children when I was young were also getting cavities but because they were baby teeth no one bothered to do much about them.   But today, pediatric dentists are recommending all sorts of things for teeth that are falling out in a few years.

I don’t know that I’m all for putting fillings in children’s baby teeth, but in the case of my daughter, who had two teeth that weren’t formed normally, a filling or crown made some sense—especially because the tooth was bothering her.

My husband has decided to go ahead with the fillings for my son because there is some correlation with the baby tooth because if the damage goes to the root, it can impact the development of the permanent tooth.  

Today on the way back to school I called and talked to my son, who was in the car with his father.  When we asked him about his numbed  lips and mouth and how it felt, he said, “I feel nothing”.   He had an interesting time trying to eat a hot dog for lunch I hear.

The Big Boy Update:  I told my son he could go upstairs and start reading in his bed while I finished helping his sister with her wet hair tonight.   I reminded him of our newly adopted house rules, saying, “we listen and follow directions from adults the first time and all the time.”  A bit later he was nowhere to be found.  After ten minutes of searching he appeared coming down the hall towards his room, excited he had been in a special hiding place all this time.   He lost the privilege of reading in his bed tonight as a result.   He’s currently upstairs complaining about not being tired and how reading helps him go to sleep.   I told him he made a poor choice and he would have to figure out how to go to sleep another way tonight.   He’s very unhappy.  I hope it’s a good lesson for him.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter wanted to get a cat toy for Morgan’s cats.  She’s been spending time at her house as Morgan babysat her this past week.   She and her father went to get the toy yesterday afternoon.  In thanks, she and Morgan made another batch of cookies for us.   This is the third batch of cookies they’ve made in a week.   Each kind has been different, but they’ve all been good.   I think today’s cookies have Kit Kat bars in them.