All's Well

Deo Gratias! We are ever so grateful to those who offered their prayers for our little Sunshine today. Sunshine has a terrible aversion to the dentist. She has never had a negative experience to account for this, it is just that she isn't real keen on unfamiliar situations and the dentist still counts among the unfamiliar for her. Last month we went in for a standard tooth counting and basic cleaning. She and Little Queen sat on my lap on the dental chair for about a half an hour before Sunshine agreed to open her mouth and look sidewise toward the ceiling so poor Ms. Debbie could take a peak in her mouth.

Anyway, today was a much bigger procedure requiring a pediatric dentist and sedation. Yes, indeed, it turns out that chewing on your toothbrush each night is just not as effective as brushing with it. And, even if you pull a yard of dental floss out of the roll nightly, it will not be very efficacious in preventing, as the city folks call them, caries, unless you actually apply it to your teeth. Well, Sunshine knows this now. She had an abscessed tooth. Hmm-mm. Not very pretty. Not unless you are describing the pain. As in, pretty darn painful.

The pain occurred over Memorial Day weekend, but we were not sure of the cause. Then, while on the Summer Road Trip '06, a bothersome little fistula appeared above the tooth. I hoped against hope that it was a canker sore gone bad. But, alas, Cousin Craig put on his Professional Dentist hat at the family reunion and confirmed my worst fear about that little bugger. The tooth, I mean.

After a miraculous x-ray (miraculous, because Sunshine allowed it to be taken), it was determined that the affected tooth needed to be extracted. This procedure euphemistically became known as "the Treatment" during the following weeks. We made the decision to not disclose all of the details of "the Treatment" to the patient on the premise that she might get too excited thinking about the whole thing. In fact, we just left it at, "you're going to the dentist to take care of that nasty infected tooth."

Today was the day. She went in an hour early for a little medicine (Demerol) and then for some laughing gas (many protests ensued, but nothing resembling even a chuckle). Finally the dentist came in to implement "the Treatment." At this point, Sunshine was barely awake, though maintaining a firm hold on my hands.

First Stage: Fill the cavity. Done in about three minutes. (Why does it take my dentist ten times as long?)

Second Stage: Sealants on three teeth. Three minutes.

Third Stage: Fit the offending tooth with a spacer. Size 33, I think was the consensus.

Fourth Stage: Extract the tooth. This was a baby tooth; first one behind the upper eye tooth. I have never had the opportunity to witness the pulling of a tooth before. Seems like a pretty doable project for the home dentist. "Small flat head screwdriver, please" Pry and wiggle tooth. "Pliers, please." Grab and yank. Apply wadded up gauze. Procedure complete. I suppose we would have to use some vodka instead of demerol. Almost unsettling how easily that tooth came out, really.

Fifth Stage: Insert aforementioned spacer to prevent neighboring teeth from taking advantage of newly created eminent domain laws freedoms.

Anyway, the job is done and the bill is nearly paid. However, Sunshine, bless her little heart, eagerly awaits her payment from the Tooth Fairy. She was wonderful and hardly complained afterwards. Just one dose of motrin (dye-free so as to not stain that beautiful new tooth colored filling) and one strawberry milk shake did the trick. Tonight is was bowlfuls of chicken broth and some full fat yogurt to fill her little gullet.

Meanwhile I intend to hang that decayed tooth in the bathroom to motivate the children to do their best with toothbrush/flossing duties.