And, of course, the pediatric dentist’s office was closed that week, but after chatting with the Doctor, we decided it wasn’t an emergency and she could be seen the next Monday.
We called Monday morning and they squeezed us in a couple of hours later. I’ve know this dentist and his family for years, but I have to say, he (and his staff) was absolutely wonderful.
“I’m going to have to check her teeth. You’ll have to help restrain her. She’s not going to like this and she will cry.” he said.
She sort of panics when she lays flat on her back, so I was not really optimistic about the potential reaction.
I was mistaken.
She laid back (a little nervously) and opened her mouth (saying “ah”) and let him count her teeth, check them, wiggle them – he even used that little hook tool. No tears. What an amazing little trooper.
He then decided to file it down just a bit where it had a sharp edge at the point. Ugh.
He warned me that I’d need to restrain her arms AND legs. Crud. They blew air on it and used the nasty little file drill thingy. Of course, my head it right over hers so I could see everything even though I didn’t want to. There were tears that time, but not near as bad as I imagined. I think she was just freaked out but the sound and feeling. (Can’t blame her.) It took maybe 7 seconds. As soon as I picked her up, she pointed to the light, “Yight!” Tears dried up. We did have to fetch her shoes which she managed to slide off during the ordeal. We have a follow up exam next month.
The doctor said that he could repair the tooth, but she would be MISERABLE and it would be traumatic for her. He shrugged and said, “She is a pretty little girl….we could do it if you want to.” I just couldn’t imagine putting her through that. (Thanks for sharing your experience, Liz!) If she were older and it was a permanent tooth – that would be different. I asked the doctor my standard question, “If this was your child/grandchild would you do it?” His response, “Absolutely not.” Decision made. She’ll just have a smile with “character.”
I don’t even notice it much anymore. Every now and then I’m aware of it, but she’s so darn cute, it doesn’t even matter. Thank heavens it wasn’t worse.
Oh, so glad to hear! I've been wondering about her "character". Maybe in a year she'll be ready to fix it. Regardless, that smile is just a brilliant and radiant, chipped tooth or not!
ReplyDeleteAw..thanks Kaela. I don't know why it never occured to me that we could have it fixed later.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pic!I have seen her twice since the chipping and never even noticed...those darn dimples are so distracting!!!
ReplyDeleteI would agree with him, it's not a permanent tooth, so don't stress too much about it. She is so darn adorable it doesn't matter. In fact, I bet you'll miss it when her new tooth grows in eventually.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you told us what happened. I had been wondering ever since she chipped her tooth. I was just going to ask you when you posted this. She's adorable with or without perfect teeth!
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