I’m a lucky guy when it comes to oral hygiene. I brush my teeth, occasionally remember to floss, I regularly visit my dentist in maple ridge and I’ve never had to deal with a cavity. As a child, our family dentist suggested I get invisalign braces for cosmetic purposes, but we couldn’t afford them, so I did without. Invisalign braces are a dental straightening treatment but compared to the traditional braces, they are virtually invisible. There are other cosmetic dentistry procedures that can help improve the overall aesthetics of your smile. Know more about invisalign vs braces here.
My teeth turned out just fine, and I would like to take this opportunity to deliver a quality “Suck on that!” to my brother and sister who both had braces when things were better. I will chew this stick of gum right now in honor of the years when Brian and Stephanie could not. Mmmm… so good.
The only issues I’ve ever had were a cyst in my gums that felt like I had been punched in the teeth and a small procedure to repair a molar since I grind and clench my teeth. A numb mouth full of stitches and a dose of laughing gas later, and I’m a-okay. I also had my wisdom teeth taken out. All I really remember was my Dad driving me to Arby’s immediately after. He chowed down on a sandwich while praising it for its deliciousness while I dribbled a milkshake down the front of my shirt. Also, Mom had rented Robin Hood: Men In Tights, which I watched 18,842 times over the next couple days.
Not long ago, Sean’s dentist found a cavity and wanted to get it filled and then apply a whitening teeth treatment. He sent us home with the nose-mask, so Sean could get used to it. We went back a few weeks later to get the cavity fixed, and Sean climbed up in the chair and let them put the mask on like a champ, since getting a book appointment online is pretty easy now a days. A few minutes later, the dentist’s assistant came to tell me that Sean said he needed to potty, so I helped my groggy pal to the bathroom and back to the chair. About ten minutes later, they came back to me. The loud sound of the drill had startled him, and this was not going to happen today.
My dentist midtown manhattan decided to keep an eye on things, and after the last check-up, he wanted to try again.
I’ve had been dreading this. One slip-up can be overcome, but another could become a pattern. I don’t want him to become scared of going to the dentist, especially since he likes going right now. He gets a prize, new toothpaste, a new toothbrush, and the waiting room has a play set he really likes. It’s like a semi-lame Christmas where the elf from the claymation Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special has finally become a dentist and the presents all come in little plastic bubbles. If you want to avoid that, you can know more about having a good dentist visit at RinconDentistry.com.
This time, we had a plan. My wife and I both took the day off work, and kept him home so he would get to play and sleep late and have fun. I had purchased a small Yoshi stuffed animal that Sean had his eye on, and alerted the dentist’s office that we would pass it along to them to give to him to hold while he had the cavity filled, to learn more about the dentistry procedures, you can see it here. We would also put songs on our iPod that he liked to help block out the noise of the drill. The playlist included the awesome Imagination Movers (@iMovers and imaginationmovers.com), OK GO’s “Here It Goes Again”, and “Runaround Sue” by Dion.
Smooth, right?
Nothing ever really goes as planned. That weekend was plenty good. Sean’s grandmother took him to a Halloween party where he dressed up like The Hulk, and I got to watch football. Vanderbilt beat Auburn and Ala-freaking-BAMA beat the fire out of Tennessee, so my day could not get any better. Sunday I wake up with my stomach waging war on me. By the afternoon, Katie had it too. We spent almost all day feeling miserable either in the bed or in the bathroom. All I could think of other than “Breathe…breathe…you’re not going to hurl…breathe…” was that Sean was going to catch it too, and we would have to reschedule again. The morning of the visit, we both felt notably better, and Sean was bouncing off the walls. Now that’s a good sign.
On the ride to the dentist’s, Katie and I both got really nervous. We didn’t want him to be scared or traumatized, but he was be-bopping along with the iPod and his headphones. We pulled into the parking lot, and he was still kicking his feet and singing to himself.
Once inside, I slipped Yoshi to the girl at the counter, and we played the waiting game. While Sean played on the play set, I thought about LifeofDad.com’s viral success since the TV in the waiting room was showing The Little Mermaid. It made me think of my favorite Disney cartoon, Robin Hood, and yes I know every single word of every single song. “Every town, has its ups and downs, sometimes ups, outnumber the downs, but not in Nottingham…”
“Sean?”
My “Not in Nottingham” revelry was broken by the assistant coming for Sean. Katie was too nervous to go back with him, so I walked him back to old Room #1. He crawled up into the chair and stretched out, still jamming to his iPod like a boss. I handed over his little mask, and was dismissed to the waiting room. I sat next to my increasingly more nervous wife, and found my current Star Wars novel on my phone. Every little noise or potential-drill sound made Katie look around, and I tried to calm her down by acting nonchalant. Inside I was a bundle of nerves too.
A few minutes later, someone came by to let us know they had just done the injection, and that he did not make it that far the first time, so all was good. They also let us know that he was wiggle-dancing with his shirt up over his belly. A good laugh always makes everything better, and I knew we were on the right track.
About thirty minutes later, the assistant comes out to hand us Yoshi, the iPod, and the Mater toy he smuggled in. I walked back to take care of business, and found him putting his tokens in the prize machines. He was turning the knob, opening the door, turning it again, opening the door, over and over until we turned it all the way so he could get his fish eraser.
I asked him how he was feeling, and he dizzily looked at me and said “I’b finb.” As we walked back to the car, Sean looked around like he just couldn’t remember what was going on. After driving for a couple minutes he was asleep, and stayed that way all the way home. Within minutes of getting home he was running around again and trying to figure out why his lip keeps making his juice spill out of his mouth.
I’m so proud of him. It’s got to be unsettling to be surrounded by people in masks, bright lights, and loud noises, but he did great! Katie and I were more panicked than he was, and I will take that every single day. And as he takes a flying leap off our downstairs coffee table while yelling “IRON MAN!!!,” I am thankful for my brave little guy. And that’s the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth. If any of you out there are looking for a dentist or thinking about getting a single tooth implant, this blog will help you find the perfect dentist for you and your family!