Chloe and the Dentist

A few months back we noticed a brown spot on my granddaughter Chloe's tooth. After searching for the right dentist, my daughter made an appointment for her. Unfortunately for my daughter, Chloe's school scheduled Chloe's speech evaluation result consultation an hour before the dentist visit. Not knowing how long the speech consult would take, I took Chloe to the dentist. Her mother came afterwards, just in time for the end of the dentist visit.

It turned out that Chloe did not have one cavity, she had four. And they were in each of her molars: top right, top left, bottom right and bottom left. This meant 4 visits, one for each quadrant. I think her mother was going to cry. On a good note, the hygienist was so good that she cleaned Chloe's teeth without Chloe even realizing it. She was amazing. Hopefully the dentist would be just as good.

Since Chloe had to have 4 appointments and her mother was adamant that she missed no school, I made the appointments for right after school. My daughter doesn't get off work until 4 but I just wanted my granddaughter to get them over with so I volunteered to take her. Besides, I think her mother would have freaked her out with all that crying.

Chloe was a trooper. She got through the first two appointments with ease. She had fillings in her top molars so now it was on to the bottoms. She was getting pretty used to these visits and she didn't seem to mind even though she did get a little uncomfortable towards the end of the appointments.

The dentist and his assistant was so patient with her. They let her watch You Tube videos on my phone when they were waiting for Novocaine to kick in and it didn't matter that she wanted to wear her hat and gloves or hang on tight to her My Little Pony toys while they drilled away. They were so good.

However, there was a reason they saved the bottom fillings for last. They were not as easy. The shots of Novocaine were tougher for her to take and the drilling was more uncomfortable. At the end of the third visit she asked me not to take her there any more. I told her I was sorry but there's one more visit.

I mentioned to the dentist that I did not understand how this could happen. My family has very strong teeth with a history of very few cavities. And my daughter makes sure she brushes her teeth lots. I blamed her father's side of the family (ha-ha!). The dentist said the reason the enamel on her teeth was so soft was that Chloe has eczema. I even affects the teeth. I had no idea. I still blame her dad's bad genes. I also asked why we can't just wait till they fall out but the baby molars are in there for a few more years so there's no way they can be just left alone. I tried to spare her more pain but this was for the best.

I hope we can get through that last visit without a lot of struggle. I did promise her a trip to "the red circle store". That's what she calls Target, her favorite place to get My Little Ponies. :)