I now have my own merry little Jack O' Lantern. Well we are still working on the merry part...
In February of this year the boys were playing outside. They were playing as boys do, rough. Well Caleb has always been the most daring, and during one of his feats he biffed it. In the process he also chipped a tooth out. We took him to the dentist, and she was not too concerned. It was more a "watch and wait". Due to the fact that this tooth was now dead, it affected the nearby teeth, and caused them to weaken and decay. In a few short months he was left with two front jagged and graying teeth, and had one other that was barely there. The prognosis was that they needed to be pulled. All four of them, or what was left.
Yesterday we went to the pediatric dentist to get the deed done. There was earlier concern that we would need IV sedation to put him completely under, but this dentist had been specially trained and she was sure she could do it with a light oral sedation to make him groggy and some nitrous oxide. We arrived bright and early with daddy in tow, since he is Caleb's "friend", and started him on the oral medication. He started getting groggy and a little loopy so we started in. Daddy sat right next to him and held his hand the entire time, while mommy looked on. They gave him a topical to numb the area, and then several shots. He did amazing. They also filled a cavity, which he actually laughed while they did, and then came the big stuff..the extraction of four front teeth. There was much pulling and tugging, but she had all four out in less than 2 minutes, as promised.
Caleb is recovering well, and this morning seems to be doing just fine. We did have a few break-downs yesterday, but he hasn't complained of pain at all. He really is such a trooper, and such a good little patient.
There is no concern with eating, since has practically been without them since spring. He can eat an entire apple, just using his side and back teeth, and the best news is that is adult teeth are perfectly fine, and will come in in a few years as planned.
Now we have our own little Jack o' Lantern just in time for Halloween.
2 comments:
Oh my goodness! Poor little guy! My kids have had teeth pulled before with a similar method and it's no fun. Hopefully he'll recover quickly. Snap a few pictures once your little jack o'lantern is feeling up to it!
Poor Caleb! I'm proud of all of you for being so brave in that visit! Yikes! Isn't it nice he has a second set of teeth to fill the gaps later? I'm sure he's a cute jack o'lantern!
Post a Comment