Tooth Woes

A little while back, I looked at Hadley's mouth a little closer only to find that her smile looked funny because part of her front bottom tooth was missing.  How she did it?  I have absolutely no idea!  I looked everywhere she was that day and no blood found anywhere.  All I know is that some how, some where, she hit her front bottom tooth just right to sheer off almost all of it.

I brought her in to see a family friend dentist who explained to me the possibilities of what need to happen and since she didn't cooperate for taking x-rays or even to be looked at, he refered us to a pediadontist they work with.  Well, I went to the pediadontist and got frustrated because of the wait, but also due to the fact that the tech didn't even want to attempt to take x-rays and then the short visit with the actual dentist where there was a brief glance and they said, "It has to come out.  You can schedule it at the front desk."  WHAT!!!  Honestly...just like that and it has to come out.  That's crazy!  What'll happen to her adjacent teeth as they deal with a gap in between them for the next 5 or so years?  Can't it just stay in there?  You didn't even take an x-ray, how do you know it's not just a fluke permanent tooth trying to come in super early?  Needless to say, I was a bit overwhelmed and the price tag for getting it pulled was not a pretty nor welcomed amount.  Flustered in not knowing what to do, I decided not to schedule the appointment just yet until I talked to oh say, my husband about everything.

Well, today finally ended that saga.  Hadley couldn't eat anything before the procedure so we tried tanking her up with her favorite foods during an extended late dinner last night consisting of parts of macaroni and cheese, hot dog and pizza with chocolate milk and water to chase it all down.  She went to sleep late so she could possibly sleep in to kill some time too and it seemed to work because she didn't wake up until about 8:30 and her appointment started at 10:30.  We watched her favorite movie, Monsters Inc and then I took her to Wal-Mart to pick out a new toy for afterwards.

I got there 15 minutes early to try to help calm her down and fill out the forms saying I know all of the possibilities and risks from the procedure all while juggling her up and down chairs, in and out of the hall and other various toy situations.  At about 11 or so, we were finally called back to weigh her in at a whopping 24 lbs and then discuss the forms I filled out since I had still questions to get answers for.  I expressed my concern about the gap in the teeth and what might be done to prevent the other teeth from growing crooked into that said space and avoiding braces later in life and they said that they put spacers in the gaps, but they aren't too pretty and they usually only do it if it's on the side of the mouth not the front since the teeth in the front of the mouth don't have the tendency to move like that apparently.  Secondly, I asked them to try to take an x-ray anyways while she is sedated to make sure it really and truly was not a permanent tooth and she said they would see if that were possible when the time came.  Lastly, is it truly necessary to do this instead of leaving it in there and after asking the doctor, she reassured me because it was sheered off and exposed, it was better to remove it all so that no bacteria or infection could get into the permanent tooth underneath.

So, we gave her the sedative with some much needed and appreciated water and she was good to go and we were sent back out to the waiting room to wait some more (I hadn't realized it would be another 45 minute wait).  Finally, around 12, we moved back to the actual room and they kind of left us in there.  TIme rolled on some more and I was getting frustrated because my antsy daughter was all over the place and it still wasn't getting done.  Finally, they approach me with the kicker that topped it all of.  It goes as follows.

"It seems that your daughter is not going to calm down at all through the sedatives so you have two options right now.  You can either get your money back and leave and go to a referred peridontist to make an appointment to then put your daughter to sleep through an IV and get it pulled that way OR you can choose to have her put in the papoose and have it done within 10 minutes."

In my mind, I thought, why haven't you just done the latter by now instead of wait so long.  I also was thinking, ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!  You want me to leave after waiting a couple hours now only to reschedule with a different person to go through this horror all again, I DON'T THINK SO!  SO you can guess, I told them to papoose her and get it over with after a minute or two of thinking about it.

After another 10 minutes of shuffling things around they had us move rooms again and by this time Hadley was screaming and bawling and frustrated too because she was both EXHAUSTED because it was passed her nap time AND STARVING because she still had NO food inside of her.  YEESH.  SO what's a mom to do...I turn into a basketcase who is no doubt exhausted from trying to deal with her and I bawl over the whole situation as I sit there trying to keep her attention and calm her down with another movie.  At this point, all I thought about was yelling at them for not gettting it over with and contemplated doing so if they came into the room again and wondered why my daughter was acting the way she was.

Finally at a little before 1 pm, a nurse came into the room, turned off the lights and asked to ly her down on top of the papoose board to get her comfy lying there while watching the movie.  She seems semi-okay with the position and then the doctor comes in and they start trying to strap her down and she looses it all while I loose it with crying again as I watch my daughter be so upset.  They get her tucked in and put the numb stuff on the tooth area and try to give her the laughing gas and I am asked to leave.

As I wait, I cry some more and update Jared that she is finally getting it done.  A couple minutes later, they are carrying my screaming daughter with a pool of blood in her mouth to me saying she's all set.  I try to absorb some blood with gauz, but she just takes it out and throws it.  I bring her to the car after fumbling through the diaper bag trying to remember where I put my keys and she continues to scream while buckling her in to leave.  The whole way home, I listen to her scream for her Daddy.  Once home, Daddy comes out to get her and I try to collect everything and regroup from this whole frustrating and emotional experience.

After getting her settled down a bit, we got some Jello in her and Tylenol and we watched a show before putting her down for a very late nap around 3 pm.  At which I felt so exhausted and just totally beat, that all I wanted to do was lye in bed and pass out from sheer exhaustion.  Thus ends my tails of the tooh woes.  Check out her smile when you see her next.  It reminds me of when I went through Elementary School with only one front tooth in almost all of my school pictures.