Jaida does not heart the dentist!

Jaida had a couple of her teeth repaired last year. She did not have actual cavities but due to all of the antibiotics she was on as a toddler, for her ear infections, the enamel on the two year molars is less than perfect. Apparently, this can happen if a baby/toddler has to take a lot of antibiotics before all their teeth are in. The issues were not from eating sweets, poor dental hygiene or anything like that. Anyhow, we were in "let's watch it" mode with the last of her two year molars to come through. At her yearly exam in June Dr. Sona announced that while the tooth did not have an actual cavity it did have the beginnings of a little carie and the tooth was quite soft. So we should start thinking about fixing it and then sealing the tooth.

Today was the day to get the tooth fixed. Jaida sees a pediatric dentist. It is quite the fun place if one is not getting their teeth reamed out and puttied. They have a very detailed aquatic theme with a HUGE pirate ship play structure in the center of the waiting room. There is a picnic table in the exam area with a thatched umbrella over it for sitting at and coloring. They also have a green parrot named Flossie. Jaida really does like the place. They do sedation dentistry. They use Versed to relax the kids and make them loopy before any work is done. It has the added benefit of causing amnesia so they really don't remember anything that happened. Thank goodness!

No food for Jaida this morning which made her a bit cranky as the girl does love her food. Get to the dentist and they give her grape flavored *happy* juice. Within 5 minutes or so we start seeing the first effects of the meds as Jaida is leaning heavily on me, slurring her speech and is acting a tad bit loopy. However, I could tell almost instantly that it wasn't going to go well. She was loopy but not in that totally relaxed I don't care what happens to me sort of way. In fact that is the way she was last time. This time however, she very much cared about what was going to happen to her and she was feeling obviously loopy and totally out of control. For a type A personality this is not a good combination. We took her to the chair where she was totally freaked by the little nose mask that delivers the nitrous oxide. Then she was freaked by the water squirter, the suctiony thing, air from the fan blowing on her ... you name it and she was freaked out by it. The Novocaine put her over the edge. The screaming began ... I am sure there were a few dozen small kids running for the door when they heard her screeching like someone was torturing her. We had to hold her down to get the work finished up in a jiffy. That was a regular party.

Afterwards we took her to Dunkin Donuts for a very sugary early morning treat just to ensure we have to do this all over again someday. ;) The Versed seemed to kick in full force while we were in the car on the way home (once her body relaxed a bit). She sounded like a little drunk woman. Apparently, her feet are quite cute and funny because she had a good laugh at their expense on the way home ... it was pretty funny. It is quite something to see your child completely stoned. Once home Joe took her to the potty since it had been a while. She tried to dismount once finished and nearly fell on her face. We took that as a pretty clear sign that today needs to be a lounge on the sofa and let your brain rot in front of the TV sort of day. So that is what she is doing today. At least the tooth is fixed. Oh yeah ... she remembers none of what happened at the dentist. We are very happy about that because the whole scene had the makings of a horrible and very traumatic childhood memory. ;)