Dental Work = Ouch

So Madeline had all her dental work this morning. The process all went pretty smoothly. They put her under a non-intravenous conscious sedation. She was feeling really sleepy and couldn't keep her eyes open at times. The dentist and staff made her feel really comfortable, let her pick out a movie to watch during the whole procedure (there is a flat screen suspended from the ceiling above her), and put a blanket on her so she wouldn't be cold. It took nearly an hour for him to fill 3 cavities and crown another. When he was almost done with those and getting ready for the extraction, he was called out of the room and gone for nearly 10 minutes. When he returned and was finishing up on the tooth he was going to crown, Madeline came to a little and expressed she could feel some pain. He apologized and gave her some more Novocaine shots. He was concerned she was coming out of her sedation and contemplating on extracting the infected tooth at another appointment where she could be put under a different type of sedation and she wouldn't feel discomfort. He was finishing up the crown, when Madeline fell back asleep. He did a pain test on the gum near the tooth that needed to be extracted and she remained asleep. Since the extraction would take only 5 seconds I okayed him to go ahead and extract it now. He gave her more Novocaine and pulled it out! Madeline started moaning as he was tugging, but it was over in seconds. Poor baby girl. She wasn't traumatized or upset, so that's good.

Her stomach was a little upset when we were leaving the office and she was super groggy. When we got home she wanted to eat because she was real hungry (hadn't eaten since the day before) but she couldn't feel her mouth still. I tried to give her a bite of pudding but she had a hard time feeling and swallowing it. She laid down and took a 2 hour nap. When she woke she asked for something to eat again. Now she could feel her mouth again. So she ate a PB&J on soft bread and drank some milk. We had a knock on the door and it was our neighbor's son across the street, he made Madeline a get well card. He's really into baseball so he thought  he'd put the Red Sox score from last night inside the card to cheer Madeline up. So Sweet!

After her lunch she took another 2 hour nap. She doesn't seem to be in discomfort or pain. I gave her children's Tylenol at lunch and it seems to be doing the job. She asked the dentist if she could keep her tooth, so they put it in a tiny treasure chest for her. Boy I didn't realize how big the roots are on a baby molar tooth. The poor tooth did have a big cavity which caused that abscess infection in her gums. So now she's on the road to recovery - and praying no..more...cavities!

I blame it on him.

So James had his 6 month cleaning appointment today with our new pediatric dentist. He was super excited about going and very brave and still. The tech who took his x-rays said he was such a good boy, perfectly still. And the hygienist that cleaned his teeth, polished and flossed said they looked great! No plaque or stuff in between the teeth. I was beginning to think we would actually leave with a good dental appointment. I thought too soon...sigh. So in James' x-rays it showed his adult 6 year molars were coming in and starting to push his baby molars tighter together (great breeding grounds for cavities to start). The x-ray also showed one small cavity not visible to the eye but on the side near the base of his molar. As well as a "shadow" forming on one other molar which the dentist informed me is the start of a cavity. He said he is able to fill them now, but it they get any bigger they would need to be crowned. NOT AGAIN!

Seriously you couldn't tell from these pretty little smiles that my children have horrible baby teeth. And I blame it on him. That is Stephen. They must get the bad teeth genes from him, since I've never had a cavity. (this is my frustration typing). This will put our total medical/dental out of pocket balance for the year over 4K! Ugh. So we'll continue brushing twice a day, floss daily, and pray...that we get no more cavities.

***Edit: Stephen says I need to clarify that I don't really blame it on him, just being sarcastic in a frustrated state of mind. :)

Sugar & Teeth

Do any of you follow the Pioneer Woman? If you don't, you should check her blog out! She has great stuff on there from family confessions, to cooking and recipes, to photography and home & garden stuff. And she's funny too. I just recently started following her blog. Yesterday I realized my bananas were ripe and I needed a new banana bread recipe (couldn't find my old one that I loved!). So I was on her blog and did a search to see if she had one - she did! And it was pretty much identical to my old one, sour cream and all, so I was thrilled to find it. I baked one last night and it was so delicious. I mean what wouldn't be delicious with 2 sticks of butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar! Okay don't let that stop you from trying it. Super yummy.

You can find her Banana Bread recipe here.

*Just a disclaimer though, sugar and poor flossing leads to cavities. Ugh.

So Madeline did not receive an A+ from her new pediatric dentist today. I switched dentists for the kids to one closer to home. It's a fairly new office with state of the art equipment, friendly staff and atmosphere. The kids dug it. So Madeline was over due for a 6 month cleaning. At her last appointment several of her molars showed an early cavity. Let's just say it's grown and has caused an infection and abscess in her gums. Her gum near the tooth started bulging last week. Last year I really didn't want to have her have another tooth crowned so we postponed a follow up appointment. Big mistake. Now she will have to have this baby molar extracted! :( Not to mention a spacer put in for several years until the adult tooth comes in. She also will have another molar crowned and 3 molars filled, and 4 permanent adult molars sealed! Sigh. As if we didn't already have numerous other medical bills this year! Basically Madeline has pretty thin enamel on her baby teeth, and they are also tight and close together which makes flossing a must! I wonder though even if she flossed daily if she still would be prone to these? I mean it's not like the kids eat junk food  and suck on lollipops all day every day. They drink mainly water and milk with occasional juice. And James has zero cavities. So what gives!

So please pray for Madeline. I'll do an update post when she will have all this done. She'll be put under sedation and she'll also have a very sore mouth.