Good Times at the Dentist

The way it falls right now, the kids see our dentist, Dr. S, right when school gets out and just before Christmas.  Mom knows how to make school vacations FUN, let me tell you.

The one up side to seeing the dentist is that Dr. S has video monitors positioned above all the exam chairs, so the kids are allowed to watch DVDs while they get their teeth cleaned.  She carries a good selection, but my kids like to pick their own DVDs.  Ane brought The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and I had picked out our Angry Birds Toons DVD for Rerun.  Let me just say that I am a genius, because Rerun was perfectly behaved and compliant so long as he got to watch that DVD.  He just had to be reminded to keep his mouth open and not talk.

Tad came armed with The LEGO Movie and his copy of The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist, which he uses as a social story to predict how his visit to the dentist will go.  Dr. S handled him herself this time around, and he did a great job with her, even though he was “backseat dentisting” – she was cleaning his teeth and he was showing her the book, trying to tell her what to do next.

Of course, I’m shuttling between 3 exam rooms carrying Thumper – who also just wants to be walking around the office, charming the staff and looking for buttons to push.  At the end of it all, Dr. S was trying to get Ane to pull a very loose tooth herself.  She’d given Ane a Q-Tip full of a numbing gel, and was having her swab the gum and then push down on the tooth.  The baby molar had been completely displaced by the adult tooth and wasn’t hanging on by much, but it was enough that it was going to need a firm yank.  Ane had insisted vigorously to me that it didn’t need to be pulled, and was upset when Dr. S said it needed to come out.  But she didn’t argue with her, she just began to whine and squeal to me and Rosie, the dental hygenist, who was trying to help her out.  I finally plopped Thumper down on Tad’s lap – Tad was done and still watching The LEGO Movie – and told him to hold onto his baby brother while I dealt with Ane.  Rerun was also done by this point, and playing Angry Birds on the iPad, and was totally ignoring his sister’s histrionics.

I stood over Ane and told her to get pulling or I would do it.  She shrieked at me, “I DON’T WANT YOU TO TOUCH IT!”  I told her that Rosie and I needed to take a look.  The molar was hanging on, but I knew she’d had enough numbing gel to not feel much.  Rosie was offering her gauze to help her pull it out, and Ane was still freaking out.

I turned to Rosie.  “Hand me the gauze.”  She did, but I could tell she didn’t really want to.  Ane shrieked louder as I grabbed hold and yanked the molar out.  She was still shrieking when I said, “You do know I just pulled it out, right?”

She stopped and looked at me, and saw her molar in the piece of gauze in my hand.  “Oh.  It is?  I didn’t feel that.”

Gaaaaah.

I went to go collect the boys, and this is what I found in the exam room.

They were totally engrossed in The LEGO Movie.  Dr. S was asking for a copy of this picture because she thought it was hysterical.

And so ends another trip to the dentist.  No cavities, back in six months.  Everything is awesome!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2014 at 1:00 am and is filed under Children, Mommyhood.
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