I Heart the Dentist

The week before Valentines Day, I attended a technology conference in Austin with several of my co-workers. While I was away, Rex apparently developed a toothache. I am not sure what it is, but in our household, there seems to be some kind of feature on our phone that blocks anyone of the male persuasion from phoning anyone that you might need to schedule some kind of appointment with, think doctor, pest-control guy, dentist, you get the gist. So by the time I got home on Friday evening, poor Rex was none too happy with the discomfort he was feeling. Since we were now into the weekend, he was going to have to tough it out for a couple more days.

Monday rolled around, and I was able to get Rex an appointment with a pediatric dentistry place that had two offices, one for regular patients, and one for "emergencies". With all of the pain, I felt we definitely qualified for the latter. We were scheduled for Tuesday morning, and I arranged to be off work to take care of the said toothache.

We arrived bright and early for our 9:00am appointment, and got all of the necessary paperwork taken care of. As we waited our turn, the waiting room quickly swelled with other patients. About 45 minutes after our scheduled appointment, they took Rex back (parents are only allowed for kids under 4).

After another long wait, one of the dental assistants came out to tell me that they were going to have to crown the tooth that had the cavity in it. With a silver crown!! What, my kid is going to have a silver tooth?! OK, trying to be cool about it. The tooth is near the back, it wouldn't be too noticeable right?

More waiting.

Return of the dental assistant.

OK, they are actually going to have to PULL the tooth because it is too damaged to save. Great! We are now two hours into our visit. About 20 minutes later, the same assistant returns for the third time to tell me Rex is coming out of the gas, and I can come on back. He is laying in the dentists' chair stiff as a board watching cartoons on the ceiling with the little oxygen mask over his nose and a big wad of gauze in his mouth.

As I took Rex to the overflowing waiting room to sit while I settled up our bill, the receptionist informs me that I need to schedule TWO more appointments. Wait, What?! Yeah, so they have to take an impression of the gap, make a spacer, and then have him come in again to have it put in so his teeth won't drift. Why did they not take the impression while he was still in the chair feeling all happy with the gas? Good question that I never did get a great answer to. I convinced them that we did indeed intend to pay that day, and they could do the impression NOW.

Poor kid.

Back to the chair. Another shot. More fiddling around in his mouth with a big medal band and then a lump of clay looking stuff. This round was short but not pleasant for any involved.

Three and a half hours after arriving, we were finally on our way home for lots of soft foods like pudding, yogurt, and apple sauce. Popsicles saved the day. The one small favor was the fact that Rex had already had his Valentines Day Party the Friday before, so he didn't miss that. In a cruel twist of fate adding insult to injury, he was now unable to eat any of his candy!

Happy Valentines Day!