M is for Molar
Filed under: Health and Safety, Teething, Doctor's office, Jared
So Jared had his big day at the dentist on Wednesday. He needed to have a tooth pulled because of an abscess in his gum between the baby tooth and permanent tooth. I picked him up at 10am for his 11am appointment, less than half an hour after school started. We headed across town to his dentist where he drew on the chalkboard, played with a jack in the box, and raced a car on the video game system -- it is, after all, a pediatric dentistry practice -- while we waited for his turn.Eventually, they showed us into a room and got him into the chair. Cinderella was playing on the TV above him, but the nurse put on Toy Story for him. She put the tube on his nose for the nitrous oxide and got things ready for the dentist. That's when my mother-in-law showed up, more to keep me from passing out than Jared, I think.
The dentist came in and got started administering the anesthetic. That went pretty well, although she had to give him some more when the first dose wasn't enough. Mind you, Jared did well; I was feeling rather warm. Eventually, Jared's tooth area was numb enough to work on and the dentist came back and got started.
Basically, what she did was to take a pair of pliers and pull/wiggle the tooth right out. Other than a whole lot of concerned and concerted "ow ow ow!", Jared didn't seem to mind it much. When I saw what came out (pictured above right), I understand why the anesthetic may not have gotten all the way down. That sucker went deep! I watched carefully, so I could tell him and Rachel about it later, but it sure wasn't easy.
Afterwards, I took Jared home and for the rest of the day he chilled out watching telly. We don't usually let him watch more than a half-hour show or two but this certainly wasn't a usual day. Later in the afternoon, I took him out for a "Jumbo Juice," as he calls it. The dentist said no straws (the sucking could suck the blood clot out of the tooth socket) so he got a spoon. Apparently, the procedure didn't affect his appetite any -- he went through an entire 24oz Strawberries Wild smoothie.
The next day, Thursday, he was back to himself, except that he got up in the morning, came upstairs to my office, and, in a very sad and forlorn voice, told me "I didn't get a five dollars!" I told him that we had forgotten to put his tooth under his pillow so that was why he found nothing. I told him we'd do it that night for sure.
We didn't, actually, put his tooth under his pillow Thursday night either. Rachel had the brilliant idea that since it was "M" week at school and he had to bring something to share that started with the letter "M", and since the tooth they had pulled was a molar, perhaps he should hold off on the whole tooth fairy thing for another night and bring it to school on Friday.
He totally loved that idea, so Rachel put it in a lunch bag and put that in his backpack for the next day. I'm sure it was totally the hit of show-and-tell. And last night, he put it under his pillow and, after he and Sara were asleep, I snuck in and swapped it for a fiver. Hopefully, that will be the last tooth he has to have pulled. I'm not sure I could handle another.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments