The Dentist

I decided it would be a good idea to take the boys to the dentist a few weeks back.  I had noticed Chandler's front teeth seemed a little yellowed, plus now was as good of time as ever, right?  After looking over Chandler's teeth, the dentist noticed a few things.  The reason his front teeth are discolored - they are dying?  I guess sometime or another he's hit them hard enough that he killed them.  They could get worse, even black, or just stay slightly discolored.  He also noted that Chandler has a lot of white deposits on his teeth which are basically where his enamel is really weak.  And the best part, he had two cavities, one which was really big.  At this point, I'm a little miffed that he has inherited my teeth.  Of ALL things, that is the one thing I wanted him to get from his dad.  Marshall has perfect teeth, a little too perfect.  He's never had braces and never had a cavity.  Crazy, huh?  Me on the other hand - I think every tooth in my mouth is filled, and I was a prisoner to braces for 3 1/2 years.  Not to mention the Mr. Ed horse headgear I had to wear for a year, and the fact that I am missing 5 of my permanent teeth.  That's right - I'm missing all 4 of my wisdom teeth and a tooth on my bottom left side, where I've had an implant done.  Guess it is hereditary but can't figure out who I inherited it from?

We made an appointment to get Chandler's teeth filled.  The catch - the dentist needed Chan to be still for about 15 minutes, and there was no way a wiggly 3 year old was going to do that. The dr. suggested a mild sedative which would make him groggy but wouldn't knock him out.   It would also erase his memory.  After leaving, I felt really apprehensive about sedating Chan, but knew that he needed the cavities filled.  After finding out the sedative was called Versed, I decided to do a little research on my own. A friend on Chandler's playgroup board posted some information on how respiratory issues can come from Versed.  After weighing the pros and cons, we decided to go ahead and do it.  The ped dentist was great.  He kept telling Chandler what he was doing, and then would give him a sticker for doing a good job.  I think we came home with over 10 stickers.  They started monitoring his heart and pulse.  The dentist heard Chan cough once and said he wouldn't do the sedative if he was sick.  This is one place where respiratory issues can come in.  After listening to him for a few minutes, he said his lungs sounded perfect and asked me again if he'd been sick.  They proceeded to give him the sedative and he calmed right down.  They also gave him some laughing gas and started.  He was really calm for the most part and didn't squirm much.  He was also pretty happy to be watching Kung Fu Panda.  While he was numbing the one side of Chandler's mouth, he showed me just how deep and huge the one cavity was.  I couldn't believe it hadn't been causing Chan tons of pain.  He said it was bad enough they could do a root canal, but he wanted to stay away from that if he could.  Every couple minutes he kept listening to Chan's lungs, and they started to sound a little wheezy.  He got finished up and then proceeded to give him something else, should have asked the name to help reverse the effects of the Versed and wake him up.  When he started to get more with it he kept saying, "The Dentist is so fun!  It's fun - right!"  

He's been watching tv ever since we've been home and everytime he tries to get up, he about falls over.  He's also crazy moody.  Like kicking and screaming one minute, and then saying hi mama! the next minute(Yet other side effects of the Versed.)  I think I will try to put him down for a nap in a bit.  I took these two movies after we got done.  I wish I had gotten one when he kept saying the dentist was fun :)

Overall he was such a trooper and a good boy!