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Dental Adventures With Thumper

About a month ago, I was fighting with Thumper to get his teeth brushed – the ongoing struggle of his life – when I saw something ominous.  I mean, if I can tell it’s a cavity, then it’s bad.

I made an appointment with our dentist to take a look at it… and Thumper threw a pitched fit.  Tooth and nail, literally.  He has never sat for a full cleaning or willingly opened his mouth for a tooth cleaning or a brushing, for that matter.  All the hygienist was able to confirm was yes, it was a cavity, and yes, it’s deep.

The bottom line: Thumper was going to need a pediatric dentist that could do sedation, which is something our regular dentist doesn’t do.

Two phone calls later, and I had an appointment for Thumper with a pediatric dentist just three miles from home.  His first appointment with Dr. Sara was predictable – he screamed, he cried, he refused to let anyone get a good look at things.

But they were completely fine with that.  The atmosphere in the office was, “meh, we see this all the time.”  And by the time we left, I was pretty convinced that Thumper needed to permanently switch dentists, and we had an appointment for a general anesthesia dental procedure.  That appointment was yesterday morning.

My first task: get Thumper to his appointment by 6:45 am.  My second task: give him the oral medication from the anesthesiologist.  That was a little trickier, and it involved my phone, YouTube, and plugging his nose to make him swallow without spitting.

After that, he carried my iPad back to the dental chair all on his own… and they brought it back out to me once he was asleep.

Then it was a good 90 minutes of me sitting and waiting, while they took x-rays, decided what needed to be done, and did it.  By the time it was over, Thumper had two crowns on his bottom 12-month old molars, 4 clear fillings on 4 other molars, sealants on all his molars, and a thorough cleaning done.

I finally got to see him in recovery just before 9 am.  He was still dozing when I came in, and we let him wake slowly.

But when he was roused, he looked at me and said, “Hi, Mama.”  Then he reached for my iPad.  I knew he was fine at that point.

Once I put his shoes on, he tried to get up and walk out the door.  The nurse and I stopped him from falling over, and she helped carry my bag down to the car while I carried Thumper.

He was much happier once he was home, snuggled up on the couch.

His appetite returned, and he downed a yogurt and a PB&J (with the anesthesiologist’s okay, when she called to check up on him).  All seems well, and I know he will be much happier now that his teeth no longer hurt – he was definitely favoring one side of his mouth, but eventually both sides would have been hurting.  I’m just glad that the dental work is over, even though the daily struggle to floss and brush will continue.

No remodel update.  Still waiting for the plumber… to come back from vacation, apparently.

One Response to “Dental Adventures With Thumper”

  1. Nana
    June 7th, 2018 08:12
    1

    This made my heart melt, for him and for you…. He is well loved and taken care of!