Thursday, July 2, 2009

Dental Disaster

My kids went to the dentist recently. My little girl has strong teeth and no cavities, but my son has enamel that didn't form properly, so he has had cavities before, but this time he had 5. Yuck! So today we took him for his first round of fillings. the first one went off with out a hitch. The second one however was much deeper than the Dr. expected. It was very close to the nerve and my little one was feeling the pain. Even with Novocaine soaked cotton balls pushed into the tooth he still hurt. The dentist recommended immediate extraction since the infection was so deep. So we said go ahead. With the slightest of pressure my son's tooth crumbled with pieces hitting my arm and bouncing to the floor. I knew this was not a good sign. The tooth was so weakened. Anyway now the dentist had to get the roots out but with no crown to grab it was much more difficult. They had to use elevators to get under the roots to loosen them. This was extremely painful, and my son made sounds I am sure I have only heard in horror films. Afterwards the dentist apologized and stated that was not how he wanted it to go. But dealing with fragile diseased cat and dog teeth I understood it was not his fault that the tooth was just diseased and weak. He said the infection went clear down to the bone, but we hadn't lost much if any bone at this stage. Good thing we got it out now. This was the first tooth my son has ever lost. Not how I envisioned his first meeting with the tooth fairy, Oh well. After the bleeding slowed and they removed the gauze he was a much happy camper. He is doing great now and acting normal. He is loving all the pudding, jello, and yogurt. Hopefully he continues to feel well through the night.

1 comment:

Emmy said...

Poor kid! What a first experience with the dentist...

Is there anything you can do nutritionally to help with the enamel issue?