The Dentist

So now that Ben has a job, we finally have dental insurance! Ben is doesn't want to go. He hasn't been since before or just after his mission. I think he is using buying our house as an excuse since it fills up all his days off right now.

I went 3 years ago when I was pregnant with Brigham and had quite a bit of work done- it hurt. They put a temporary filling on one side and no filling on the other side where they said I needed root canals but they were not sure if Medi-Cal would cover it. The tooth they didn't fill is now a hole in my mouth. I haven't been to the dentist yet either.

But I did take Brigham and Joseph in. Brigham was first because I could see the hole in his tooth and he was complaining about it hurting. I was hoping to take him in and they would fill the cavity. But they just looked at his teeth and sent me home with a referral for another dentist. I took Joseph and Brigham in again the next week to have their teeth cleaned. Joseph did really well. He got a full mouth x ray and let them clean his teeth. But Brigham started crying and shaking and wouldn't even let them look in his mouth. I thought they would do his when they were done with Joey, but they didn't even try.

I took Brigham to the dental clinic they referred me to in Hanford on Monday. At first he was just as bad for them. They said they could let the dentist look at his teeth, but if he had cavities they would need an x-ray. I knew he had cavities. This is where I wished I had sent him with Ben (it was his day off). They said I could hold him on my lap for the x-rays, but I am pregnant, so that was not really an option. After letting him see other kids get pictures taken of their teeth and bribing him with stickers and telling him after they took pictures of his teeth we could go home (which proved not to be true, whoops!) the assistant and I got him to sit in the chair and do a top and bottom x-ray. Then the dentist came and looked at his teeth and the x-rays and said they could give him the "sleepy juice" and he needed 2 fillings, an extraction and a crown, plus a spacer for the tooth they extract because he won't get his new tooth till he's 11 or so. So they took us to get the medicine. Brigham took one sip and then refused to drink it. We tried mixing it with Sunny D, but I guess it still tasted gross. We tried putting it in a syringe and squirting it in his mouth, but he just spit it out all over himself and me. They used 3 doses trying to get him to take it, but he wouldn't. They said they could wrap him up like a burrito and just do the procedure without the medicine with him crying and screaming the whole time, or we could come back another time and do general anesthesia. So I thought we would just go with the anesthesia. They gave me an estimate. At first it looked like it would only be $550 more than I was already going to pay, but then I found out there was a $500 facility fee from the other office that they couldn't put on their bill. So it was $1050 more than what is was already going to cost us. I talked with Ben about it and I prayed about it. We were worried that they would not be able to do the work with Brigham awake and we would end up having to get the anesthesia later anyway. But the cost was so great and since the dentist said he could do it, we decided to try it anyway. I'm pretty sure they thought I was going home, but I asked if they could still try to do it with Brigham papoosed, and they told me the dentist could when he was done with the patient he was working on. So we went into the waiting room and watched Finding Nemo. And Brigham fell asleep! I guess he must have gotten something of the sleepy stuff they gave him. It suddenly made sense why the waiting room was filled with napping kids. They called me back after not too long and were able to numb his mouth, clean his teeth, get better x-rays and started the dental work. They got most of it done before he woke up. I'm guessing he woke up when they pulled his tooth. They had a hard time with the crown and spacer because they wanted to get the fit just right. They trimmed it and polished it. While they were doing that I took Brigham out of his wraps and held him and he calmed right down and went back to sleep. But he woke up again when they had to try the crown on for fit. Then they had to adjust it and glue it and clean off the glue. That was not fun to watch, but I hope Brigham was comforted by my presence. They said I could wait in the hall if I wanted. I am just grateful that he was able to sleep for most of it and not be in trauma the whole time.

Joey got to go in on Wednesday. I got the x-rays from our dentist, but they still wanted to do their own. It was an afternoon apointment, so they looked at his teeth and decided what needed to be done and then sent us home to come back next week. So one more long drive to Hanford and one more son to have traumatized. Joey keeps saying he is going to spit out the medicine like Brigham. (groan) He thinks it is funny, but he won't think it is so funny when they are working on his teeth. He needs three fillings and a cap. And they showed me how his top front teeth are getting worn down on the backs of them and they could see the pulp through them. The dentist said if they do not fall out before they wear out they will need root canals. I'm not sure he's ready to care for grown up teeth yet, so I'm working on minimizing the wear on them rather than hoping they fall out. Which is why I got rid of all our sippy cups and I am being more vigilant about not letting him chew the tires off his cars and stuff like that.

I tried to get an appointment for Cannon, but the dentist in Fresno doesn't see kids till they are 3. Which for Brigham was already too late.

I don't like going to the dentist.