Andrew's New Smile!

Yesterday (Tuesday) was Andrew's appointment. He has had some staining on his bottom teeth for at least a year and a half. Our previous dentist looked at it and said that the staining was from all the antibiotics he had as a baby. He left us with the understanding that there wasn't much we could do but hope that he would keep his baby teeth until it was the correct time for them to fall out. He felt like it was a decay issue.

Now that he's three, we decided to get him in for regular dental visits. Our new dentist won't see him because he's not four yet, so we were sent to Snodgrass and King, a pediatric dentist in Cool Springs, TN (a half hour away).

Our appointment was at 10am, but we didn't get seen until 11:15. I place that one squarely on the shoulders of my dentist's office staff. Snodgrass and King needed a referral because Dr. Snodgrass is a specialist. My dentist's office disagreed because of Andrew's young age. After a few phone calls and a little ego bashing, the receptionist at my dentist's office FINALLY gave in and faxed the stupid form over. She was so caught up with being "right" that she didn't seem to care that I was stuck in a waiting room with two young kids. I want to rip my hair out just thinking about it! I should have taken this as the sign that I was about to loose control of the day's events.

Andrew finally got called in for this "simple" cleaning. Long story made short, Dr. Snodgrass was called in to look at Andrew's staining. It turns out that it was only an iron deposit and that it could be cleaned off. I wish I would have known this a year ago! Pushing the Bad Mom moment aside, I gave him permission to scrape the crud off of his teeth. Even though they were gentle, Andrew completely panicked. (Please welcome Chaos and his evil twin Drama into the room.) After a few minutes, it was clear that my child's emotional well-being and future views of dentistry hinged on this very moment. I hoarsely whispered the single-most important question a mom ever could: "Can you sedate him?". The two hygienists and doctor replied (in unison) "yes!" The cost $125 and it would take 45 minutes for the drugs to kick in. Andrew was freaking out, Natalie was hungry and crying and tired of her carseat. Did I mention that I hadn't eaten yet?

Somebody please shoot me.

As quickly as womanly possible, I handed over my debit card, signed the consent forms, and fed the baby. They gave Andrew a paper shot glass of painkiller/sedative. I told them that for $125 that they could have at least comped me a shot of tequila or something too. That was a no-go. I almost had them on that one though.

Andrew, Natalie, and I went out to the waiting room and laid down on this HUGE stuffed bear bed. It looks like a bear rug, but is stuffed like bean bag or bed. It was so comfortable, and by then I didn't care that I was nearly 30 and laying on the floor of a waiting room.

It is the policy that parents have to stay in the waiting room while the kids are sedated and being worked on. The hygienists took Andrew away at the appointed time and got all the funk off of his teeth. Dr. Snodgrass is amazing! He came out and got me while the hygienists were doing the cleaning. The Dr. completely took my concerns to heart and was watching out for Andrew when I wasn't allowed to be in there with him. He said Andrew was being awesome and led me to the window so I could sneak a peek. He took time out of his day to deal with Andrew's cleaning and to talk to me in detail about what was going on. This was an appointment that never involved Dr. Snodgrass originally, but he took it upon himself to oversee the procedure. He definitely renewed my faith in other people.

I'll add a picture of Andrew's new smile in a day or two (blogger sight is acting up). I almost cried when I saw it though. I didn't know he actually had spaces between his little teeth.