Dentist x 8

For some reason we had gotten off the dental hygiene wagon. It had been a year since any of us had gone for a cleaning. Part of me yelled "oh our poor teeth" and the other part yelled "hey we pay a lot of money for dental insurance we better get our monies worth". So I made appointments for the 4 girls and for myself.

Emma had an orthodontist appointment first. The orthodontist said they are making the final adjustments and wanted to know where our dentist wanted Emma's tiny fang tooth positioned, so if she decides in the future to get a crown it will be in the best place. The little fang tooth, as I call it, is a genetic anomaly where a tooth forms in a small conical shape instead of the normal rectangular prism shape. This stage means Emma is almost done with orthodontia. Yeah!

She went to the dentist first, got the info for the ortho follow-up, and had a filling done. We had put off this filling because of an apparatus she had that was in the way. Dr. Freedman discovered another 2 cavities so we'd have to come back again for those. This was the first time Emma needed Novocaine for a filling and had to deal with the needle. Her whole body tensed up in anticipation and then the shot didn't fully numb things so she needed another one. Emma was a great patient, and really made the most out of a 1/2 numb face giggling non-stop as I dropped her back at school.

Bridget and Megan went together. Megs went first and had a very easy visit. I thought this would help Bridget. Bridget looked forward to her exam but got really scared about sitting in the chair. She was afraid of its movements. I talked it over with the hygienist and she was on board with little or no adjusting. The dentist walked in and the first thing he did was push the pedal to move the chair. Bridge freaked out. The poor dentist thought Bridget didn't like being up so he pushed the pedal again to lower it. This caused Bridget more anxiety. I got her settled down and we all assured her they wouldn't move the chair again. They put on Christmas music and she settled into an easy cleaning. Neither had cavities, but hey were excited to leave with new toothbrushes.

Jim brought Rachael for the 4th trip to the dentist and she did well for her cleaning. She did have a cavity so we scheduled yet another appointment. Jim brought her in for the filling a week later. She didn't get Novocaine but she said it hurt. Jim was proud of how well she handled it.

Then I brought Emma back in for her other filling. Emma knew what to expect this time and she was calmer, although she did squeeze the life out of my hand. Then Jim brought her to the orthodontist for final tooth placement.

To round it out I had my cleaning this week. If you lost count, that was 8 dental visits in the past month. Hopefully when we go back in May it will be less involved.