Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Dental Doom and Gloom

Have I totally scared you away with this title?  I know, I'm sorry.  Any words that are less than happy and are next to the word "Dentist", usually elicit a terrifying response.  So I'll share the whole story:

Marin went to the dentist.  
She really was an excellent little patient.  And the staff was super happy and nice.  She did great!
Her teeth got a less than stellar report card.
SEVEN cavities!!!!!!!!!!!! (did I use enough exclamation marks?  NO I need more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I didn't even know 4 year olds *had* seven teeth (ok, that's a lie, but you can sense my frustration, no?)

I sat in the dim corner in my designated 'parent' chair and felt myself shrinking as the dentist kept calling off cavities like hot-cake diner orders...."cavity on C4, order up!".  I felt about 2 inches tall by the time the dentist looked up at me and saw my shocked and embarrassed face.  I stumbled over my words when he started the interrogation: "Does she drink a lot of sugary drinks?  Does she brush her teeth?  Do you inject sugar in her mouth after she falls asleep at night?"  Ok, so maybe he didn't ask *that* question, but I may have been a little light-headed at the moment as large dollar bill signs kept knocking me in the head.

I responded:
Umm, uhhh, yes, we brush her teeth and uhhh, we only give her diluted juice once or twice a day uhhhh, how can this even happen?!

The dentist was super nice, but I saw a brief smug look of 'did-you-know' cross his face when he informed me that apple juice is the worst kind of juice you can give your kids.  Sorry about that Dr. DDS, they don't exactly advertise that on the Mott's label; and, should I be switching to grape juice then?  I'll be sure to call you to scrub my couch and carpet for future spills.

So I choked out my embarrassment and then the dentist switched gears, for which I was grateful.  He told me that some kids just have a certain bacteria in their mouth and no matter how much they brush, cavities.  And some kids never brush their teeth, no cavities.  Of course.  My poor sweet girl.  She has terrible vision, and now her teeth.  I hope this is as bad as it gets, for her sake!

So, we have a few more visits back to the dentist.  I'm hoping we can just use laughing gas to accomplish the task at hand, but we shall see.

Here's the cute girl getting all ready for a cleaning.
 She really did a great job, she was super obedient.
 Lounging around.
Thank goodness for flex-spend accounts.

2 comments:

Christy Wheeler said...

Poor Marin, I hope it goes smoothly. I had terrible teeth growing up so I took Benton in as soon as I could! He has been once just before he was 2 and no cavities, yay! But he will be going every 6 months just to make sure that I am doing enough.

Mrs. Carter said...

Oh Samantha bless your heart! And poor Marin (who is looking SO grown up, by the way), I hope she does alright at her second visit. Darn bacteria!

P.S. I LOVE reading your blog! ;)