Last Night's Blog

I tried to post last night but, for whatever, reason, the posting page wouldn’t load to let me post. So I’ll just post last night’s blog tonight. I had to take Zach to the dentist yesterday. He had a baby tooth that was being pushed sideways by the permanent tooth. It was a top front one so it was bothering him when he ate – poking at the inside of his lip. He asked me for days to take him to the dentist so today I finally got him an appointment. He was just happy that he got to get out of school early.

I picked him up at 11:30 so we could get there early and fill out all the paperwork. While we waited he did all of his homework. Then we got called back. The assistant discussed the issue with me and took an x-ray. Then she handed Zach the remote control for the TV in case he wanted to change the channel. I’m still amazed that dentists now have televisions for the kids to watch while they wait. I never got that but it’s a bonus when the kid is getting cranky and wants to go home before seeing the dentist.

Anyway, the dentist finally came into the room and talked about the problem with me. Just to sidebar for a second, this dentist is oh-my-God handsome, and about my age. Nice, right? Nah. Unfortunately, he’s also married. If he wasn’t married he’d be gay, because that’s just my luck. Back to the story now. He looked at Zach’s tooth and said it wasn’t really a problem. He said the permanent tooth would gradually push the baby tooth out as it grew. I was just concerned that the baby tooth, which was jammed against the tooth next to it, would push all his other teeth out of alignment. The tooth was pushed so far over that it looked like he’d already lost a tooth, that’s how big the space was. The dentist said it wasn’t a problem, though, and said it was Zach’s choice as to whether or not the dentist pulled the tooth or not. Zach decided to get it done because it was bothering him.

We’d been through this before when one of his bottom permanent teeth was growing inward rather than upward. The baby tooth was pushing forward but wasn’t coming out. The dentist we saw in MO for that tooth just used a swab to put some numbing gel on Zach’s gums, then she laid the swab sideways behind the tooth and had Zach bite down on it. It just punked the tooth right out of his mouth, lickety split. No pain, nothing. I figured this one would be a little harder since the baby tooth was barely loose. I was right.

The dentist did put the numbing gel on Zach’s upper gums but then pulled out a needle and started shooting Novocaine all around the tooth. Zach was a little uncomfortable with it and held the assistant’s hand. He did say “ouch” a time or too but that was about it. When the dentist was finished with the Novocaine, he had to wait until the area was completely numb before starting the extraction. He told Zach to rinse his mouth and spit. None of us really explained to Zach that he wouldn’t be able to feel his lip so, when he went to spit, he completely missed the basin even though I’d slid it under his chin. The look on his little face was hilarious and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Now, when I say I laughed, I mean I laughed so hard I had tears running. I couldn’t help it. He just looked so adorable trying to hold the water in his mouth to spit out the little bit of blood the needle caused. The dentist and the assistant laughed too, just not as hard as I did. While the assistant was getting paper towels to clean the floor, I got myself together and slid over by Zach – my chair had wheels – so I could chat with him. At that point he started laughing so hard he almost couldn’t breathe. They were actually amazed at him for his attitude during the process. I jokingly asked the dentist if he’d put some laughing gas in the needle too. Of course, he said he didn’t but we did chuckle about it.

He checked Zach’s mouth to see if it was numb enough and he went to work on the tooth. I couldn’t watch that part because it makes my teeth itch to see something like that taking place. I can watch surgeries in progress; I just can’t watch anything having to deal with teeth being pulled. I don’t know why; please don’t ask. So I just sat and turned my head while the assistant used the suction tube and the dentist talked to Zach as he pulled the tooth. I happened to look just as the tooth came out. Then the dentist stuffed a piece of gauze in the space in Zach’s mouth, gave him a few instructions, shook my hand, discussed having all three kids in for check-ups, and he was gone.

The assistant, a very pleasant girl, sat next to Zach to explain all the dos and don’ts he’d have to follow for the day. She gave him an envelope filled with new gauze, a tattoo to match his shirt, a sticker with his name on it that says, “Zachary was a g-r-r-r-r-reat patient today,” and his tooth in a little plastic tooth that was on a necklace-type of string. Zach listened to all the instructions, we said our goodbyes, and were out the door. He was such a trooper through it all and I couldn’t be more proud of him. His lip was fat from the Novocaine and all the pulling and pushing the dentist did, his nose and lip were numb, his mouth was full of gauze, he could barely talk, but he was still smiling. What a great kid.

He was excited to show his new toothless space to his brother and sister and will be even more excited to show it to his class tomorrow and tell them the story of his dentist adventure. He’s even getting his picture taken tomorrow. Since we weren’t here at the beginning of the year, the retakes are tomorrow. He can’t wait to smile his smile for the camera. He’s also excited to get his dollar from the Tooth Fairy – who had already visited, by the way, as I was writing this last night at 10:00 – so he’ll have as much money as Tyler.

So that was our dentist story. I still laugh when I think of Zach’s face after the Novocaine injection. I can’t help it. If you’ve ever had a kid go through something like that, you know what I mean. I would never laugh if it was something serious like surgery, but a simple tooth extraction and his first time having his face numbed just struck my funny nerve. I can remember the one and only time I had Novocaine. It was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had so I can relate to how Zach felt. It was funny and I’m sure we’ll laugh at it for a long time to come. Right now I’m going to laugh myself into bed to get some rest. Maybe I’ll have some really funny dreams. You never know.

Until next time…peace to all.