You know by now that I have a long history with dentists. Extractions, a head gear, a bionator, braces, retainers, and two sets of bridges later... well you can understand my loathing of the dentist. Today I had an old amalgam filling replaced that had seen better days.
Amalgam... must have been REALLY old since amalgam is one of my husband's annoyances. Before we were even married he insisted we pay extra for the composite fillings. Now they are just standard thankfully, but he mentions pretty regularly (like tonight) our need to get all our amalgam fillings replaced with composite. But I digress.
I am used to the routine. I am used to the smells, the grinding, the shots in the roof of my mouth, the gagging x-rays... You get the idea. I am used to it.
I actually don't have poor quality teeth as far as decay (thankfully). My issues go to placement of teeth and lack of teeth in the right places.
I don't particularly like any of the above listed things, but I am used to them.
What really bugs me about the dentist?
Having that dang plastic backed napkin thing against my neck.
My hygienist at least folds it so the raw edge isn't against my neck, tickling and annoying the crap out of me. But the folded edge isn't that much better.
As the dentist works I have learned to hold the napkin down so it doesn't rub against my apparently ultra-sensitive neck. I am sure the think me a little nuts when they have to yank it out of my hands to wipe some random tool on it.
There, now that that is off my chest (pun intended) I can go to bed.
Showing posts with label dental angst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dental angst. Show all posts
Monday, August 25, 2008
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Where the wild and weird things are
My house.
To give you an idea of the state of my home... my son sitting at breakfast yesterday told me, "I think it is time the housecleaner came again".
Yeah, me too. She came today, my house is clean again. Weekly housecleaning is my ultimate indulgence and something I am not sure I could ever live without again. I am sure I have completely forgotten how to clean anything myself. Postive actually.
The things that come out of his mouth just keep getting funnier... and weirder. He still has a weird opposition to messes. This is my mom coming through in him. He told me the other day that the table was just too messy. Of course I responded that he could feel free to clean it.
He did.
I am routinely being corrected in my manners lately. Apparently I suck at saying "no thank you". I am working on this. Mostly because I am really tired of hearing, "I don't think that is how we say no is it? You need to be polite mommy and say no thank you."
At my prompting this evening, I got the first picture of a person out of him. We had a conference last week about Leif at school. I complained that he doesn't seem to be learning anything creative, he just wants to do numbers work. I didn't really complain as much as it was an observation that he doesn't do art. And I worried about that. As someone who loved art (and math) I want to see my son create. Turns out he can do it just fine and is on par with his peers his age. I handed him a piece of paper and a pencil tonight and he drew me... ears, two eyes, a nose on my forehead, a smile on my chin, a mess of scribbly hair on my head and two legs protruding from my chin. I am satisfied.
Skadi is just over 2 weeks shy of being a year old. I don't know how this happened. All week she has been a smiley, giggley thing. She chipped a front tooth on Saturday pretty massively. Enough so that when I took her to the dentist on Monday they repaired it. She did amazingly and only squealed when they decided to push the envelope and try to smooth out the repair job. Dental masochism? At least my kids don't mind having dental work... that's something isn't it?
Oh and a last note on the house... the real estate agent called this evening and gave AB some more information. Then added that he was under authority by the seller to offer us the house for $24K less than the listing price. Officially $55K under the appraised value. Wow, it was tempting. We had pretty well written it off, no plans to make an offer though my MIL is anxious to see it when she comes out.
Well I still think it is probably off the block for us. I still love the house, but am just not sure I can take the leap right now. AB is on the fence though is about to tip off based on new information about the owner of the 65 acre county parcel behind it... a conglomeration... whatever that means. Who really knows what it means in the grand scheme of things really. But after having apartments go up behind us once, we won't be making that mistake again.
To give you an idea of the state of my home... my son sitting at breakfast yesterday told me, "I think it is time the housecleaner came again".
Yeah, me too. She came today, my house is clean again. Weekly housecleaning is my ultimate indulgence and something I am not sure I could ever live without again. I am sure I have completely forgotten how to clean anything myself. Postive actually.
The things that come out of his mouth just keep getting funnier... and weirder. He still has a weird opposition to messes. This is my mom coming through in him. He told me the other day that the table was just too messy. Of course I responded that he could feel free to clean it.
He did.
I am routinely being corrected in my manners lately. Apparently I suck at saying "no thank you". I am working on this. Mostly because I am really tired of hearing, "I don't think that is how we say no is it? You need to be polite mommy and say no thank you."
At my prompting this evening, I got the first picture of a person out of him. We had a conference last week about Leif at school. I complained that he doesn't seem to be learning anything creative, he just wants to do numbers work. I didn't really complain as much as it was an observation that he doesn't do art. And I worried about that. As someone who loved art (and math) I want to see my son create. Turns out he can do it just fine and is on par with his peers his age. I handed him a piece of paper and a pencil tonight and he drew me... ears, two eyes, a nose on my forehead, a smile on my chin, a mess of scribbly hair on my head and two legs protruding from my chin. I am satisfied.
Skadi is just over 2 weeks shy of being a year old. I don't know how this happened. All week she has been a smiley, giggley thing. She chipped a front tooth on Saturday pretty massively. Enough so that when I took her to the dentist on Monday they repaired it. She did amazingly and only squealed when they decided to push the envelope and try to smooth out the repair job. Dental masochism? At least my kids don't mind having dental work... that's something isn't it?
Oh and a last note on the house... the real estate agent called this evening and gave AB some more information. Then added that he was under authority by the seller to offer us the house for $24K less than the listing price. Officially $55K under the appraised value. Wow, it was tempting. We had pretty well written it off, no plans to make an offer though my MIL is anxious to see it when she comes out.
Well I still think it is probably off the block for us. I still love the house, but am just not sure I can take the leap right now. AB is on the fence though is about to tip off based on new information about the owner of the 65 acre county parcel behind it... a conglomeration... whatever that means. Who really knows what it means in the grand scheme of things really. But after having apartments go up behind us once, we won't be making that mistake again.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Chompers
Blow by blow of my oldest son's mouth and dental ordeal this morning.
It was a rough night. First off trying to get Leif to take his pre-op medication the night before. AB tells me it tasted like peppermint schnapps. I knew it smelled like it. Finally we got smart... if we were to have peppermint schnapps, how would we drink it? Straight? Gag. Why in hot chocolate of course! And with whipped cream. It worked.
The 4:45am dose though... had to be on an empty stomach. So no doctoring the stuff up then. AB and I got up when the alarm went off. AB restrained while I dumped it down Leif's throat. Luckily, a sleeping child resists little and remembers even less. We wandered back to bed, both with a look on our face of how fruitless heading back to bed even is at this point. Neither of us had slept much. The night had dragged by.
At 6:30am, AB headed out the door with my little boy in his arms. I tried not to cry. Really I did. I just kept thinking of those albeit rare stories you hear about general anesthesia. I was not ready for this. I finished getting myself ready, got Skadi up and ready and ran her out to daycare. Then headed back to the office. When I arrived they had already taken Leif back for the work. I felt my heart sink a little. Then forced myself to be confident while AB and I sat there and waited. A nurse brought us odd snacks... 8 Ritz crackers, some very mild, thick hunks of salami and what looked like leftover Olive Garden breadsticks. At 8am, none of it looked appealing.
AB told me about the arrival. The anesthesiologist had wanted to take Leif back to the room without AB. AB says he "insisted" upon going, and I agreed with this immediately. Why they would expect a 3 year old to willingly go with a stranger into a room with instruments and not pitch an enormous fit is amazing to me. The anesthesiologist was NOT happy with AB's insistence, but the dentist agreed and allowed AB to walk back with Leif. AB said after the fact when Leif was knocked out, the anesthesiologist made the comment that he never has a 3yo behave this well. Well duh. I am sure the "no parents in the OR" is more for the parents, but if you have a reasonable parent who understands they are putting the kid out, it really shouldn't be an issue, and should make the process easier.
About an hour later Dr. W came in and said that all four teeth badly needed crowns, and one he initially thought was going to need a root canal, but didn't once he got "in there". Additionally, he said that once he was able to get in and see Leif's teeth he saw that his four first molars, the centers (where they had initially told us were really deep pits and he would need seals - which they were also planning on doing at this time) were actually hypoplastic in the center - which also explains the need for a couple of fillings last year. So he ended up hollowing out those teeth and filling them, then sealing everything. There is some concern that his next molars could come in the same way given that so far all eight molars that are in, were affected to some degree. They are somewhat hopeful that his permanent teeth won't be. (Crossing my fingers.)
Dr. W made reference to this being either "genetic" or something that happened during pregnancy. He told us that these teeth were forming during 6-8 weeks gestation (which just amazes me thinking about it) and said, "so you might have done something and never known you were pregnant". Umm no. I knew early, early. So I racked and racked my brain. I didn't take meds while pregnant with Leif. I was so paranoid, I didn't do ANYTHING. The other aspect is the genetic side. Hypoplasty is an X linked trait. My neice has also had problems, so maybe it is just plain genetic. I had very strong teeth as a kid. Wacky teeth, misplaced and missing teeth, horrible bite, but no cavities until I was in my early teens. But maybe that other X choromosome was just more dominant in me. Maybe Skadi does have hope of nice teeth.
They warned us that coming out of anesthesia would be awful. He would scream and cry and so we were prepared for that. Amazingly, he didn't. He woke up and said, "mommy!" Broke my heart! I said, "I love you honey" and he said, "I love you too". Then he saw the bin of toys for being good and said, "I want the orange bracelet". Of course I went and got it for him without asking permission of anyone.
Things did kind of go downhill from there though - he wanted me to hold him and not Hans. He started crying, "I want to see the doctor". We were discharged and left, got to the parking lot and he was livid he wanted to go back and play with the toys. I have never seen him so angry ever. And strong too, Leif is a very strong kid. I could not have gotten him into the carseat myself.
AB thought strongly about taking him back inside to play for a little bit, but thought better of it when we became concerned that other kids would be frightened by this screaming, crying, red-eyed, swollen mouthed, blood encrusted child. We (ok, AB) overpowered him into his carseat, where he screamed bloody murder for a few minutes before konking out completely.
Things quickly returned to somewhat normal when we got home. Leif wanted oatmeal really badly. Kept asking for it. But we needed to push clear liquids first. I bribed him with the oatmeal to drink some apple juice and eat some jello first. Then he chowed his oatmeal and life was better again.
Very happy this is behind us.
Also as I have said a few times this week in regards to our daughter and her staph infection... very happy to live in the era we live in. An era of antibiotics and dental care.
It was a rough night. First off trying to get Leif to take his pre-op medication the night before. AB tells me it tasted like peppermint schnapps. I knew it smelled like it. Finally we got smart... if we were to have peppermint schnapps, how would we drink it? Straight? Gag. Why in hot chocolate of course! And with whipped cream. It worked.
The 4:45am dose though... had to be on an empty stomach. So no doctoring the stuff up then. AB and I got up when the alarm went off. AB restrained while I dumped it down Leif's throat. Luckily, a sleeping child resists little and remembers even less. We wandered back to bed, both with a look on our face of how fruitless heading back to bed even is at this point. Neither of us had slept much. The night had dragged by.
At 6:30am, AB headed out the door with my little boy in his arms. I tried not to cry. Really I did. I just kept thinking of those albeit rare stories you hear about general anesthesia. I was not ready for this. I finished getting myself ready, got Skadi up and ready and ran her out to daycare. Then headed back to the office. When I arrived they had already taken Leif back for the work. I felt my heart sink a little. Then forced myself to be confident while AB and I sat there and waited. A nurse brought us odd snacks... 8 Ritz crackers, some very mild, thick hunks of salami and what looked like leftover Olive Garden breadsticks. At 8am, none of it looked appealing.
AB told me about the arrival. The anesthesiologist had wanted to take Leif back to the room without AB. AB says he "insisted" upon going, and I agreed with this immediately. Why they would expect a 3 year old to willingly go with a stranger into a room with instruments and not pitch an enormous fit is amazing to me. The anesthesiologist was NOT happy with AB's insistence, but the dentist agreed and allowed AB to walk back with Leif. AB said after the fact when Leif was knocked out, the anesthesiologist made the comment that he never has a 3yo behave this well. Well duh. I am sure the "no parents in the OR" is more for the parents, but if you have a reasonable parent who understands they are putting the kid out, it really shouldn't be an issue, and should make the process easier.
About an hour later Dr. W came in and said that all four teeth badly needed crowns, and one he initially thought was going to need a root canal, but didn't once he got "in there". Additionally, he said that once he was able to get in and see Leif's teeth he saw that his four first molars, the centers (where they had initially told us were really deep pits and he would need seals - which they were also planning on doing at this time) were actually hypoplastic in the center - which also explains the need for a couple of fillings last year. So he ended up hollowing out those teeth and filling them, then sealing everything. There is some concern that his next molars could come in the same way given that so far all eight molars that are in, were affected to some degree. They are somewhat hopeful that his permanent teeth won't be. (Crossing my fingers.)
Dr. W made reference to this being either "genetic" or something that happened during pregnancy. He told us that these teeth were forming during 6-8 weeks gestation (which just amazes me thinking about it) and said, "so you might have done something and never known you were pregnant". Umm no. I knew early, early. So I racked and racked my brain. I didn't take meds while pregnant with Leif. I was so paranoid, I didn't do ANYTHING. The other aspect is the genetic side. Hypoplasty is an X linked trait. My neice has also had problems, so maybe it is just plain genetic. I had very strong teeth as a kid. Wacky teeth, misplaced and missing teeth, horrible bite, but no cavities until I was in my early teens. But maybe that other X choromosome was just more dominant in me. Maybe Skadi does have hope of nice teeth.
They warned us that coming out of anesthesia would be awful. He would scream and cry and so we were prepared for that. Amazingly, he didn't. He woke up and said, "mommy!" Broke my heart! I said, "I love you honey" and he said, "I love you too". Then he saw the bin of toys for being good and said, "I want the orange bracelet". Of course I went and got it for him without asking permission of anyone.
Things did kind of go downhill from there though - he wanted me to hold him and not Hans. He started crying, "I want to see the doctor". We were discharged and left, got to the parking lot and he was livid he wanted to go back and play with the toys. I have never seen him so angry ever. And strong too, Leif is a very strong kid. I could not have gotten him into the carseat myself.
AB thought strongly about taking him back inside to play for a little bit, but thought better of it when we became concerned that other kids would be frightened by this screaming, crying, red-eyed, swollen mouthed, blood encrusted child. We (ok, AB) overpowered him into his carseat, where he screamed bloody murder for a few minutes before konking out completely.
Things quickly returned to somewhat normal when we got home. Leif wanted oatmeal really badly. Kept asking for it. But we needed to push clear liquids first. I bribed him with the oatmeal to drink some apple juice and eat some jello first. Then he chowed his oatmeal and life was better again.
Very happy this is behind us.
Also as I have said a few times this week in regards to our daughter and her staph infection... very happy to live in the era we live in. An era of antibiotics and dental care.
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