First Dentist Visit, or Matt and Shannon Spend $1850

We took the kids to their first dental appointment about three weeks ago. I had an appointment for Claire because I knew the pediatrician would ask if she had been to the dentist yet and since I procrastinated, I wanted to at least be able to say - well we do have an appointment in a few weeks, aren't we great parents? So, then a bit later, Miles started acting more sensitive than normal when we'd brush his top teeth. I called and added Miles to the appointment as well. About a year or more ago, we noticed that we never really saw much of Miles' top teeth. In fact, when he smiled you barely saw the bottom-most part of his teeth. Come to find out, he has a very thick frenulum, the piece of skin that connects your lip to your gums. I asked the pediatrician about it at his one year well check and she said most kids will fall and break it on their own. His extends practically to the bottom of his gums and was creating a gap between his top two teeth and never broke. It also made it hard to brush his teeth - we had to really pull his top lip up and he did not like that at all. We should have been more diligent, but how much damage could a 2 year old have? Turns out, a lot. Four cavities - his top four teeth - all on the flat surface so they required caps. Apparently you can't fill the flat surface, the filling won't hold for long. The dentist also suggested cutting Mile's frenulum to free up some space in his mouth - a frenelectomy, my new vocab word.

So, back to Claire. Cavity free and a dream patient. See, we are good parents! :) The pediatric dentist office had games, movies and toys in the waiting room and then a movie to watch while in the dental chair. I thought it was funny that they still have these huge adult chairs for the kids when everything else is customized for little ones. I guess they see up to 18 year-old patients but Claire looked so little in the chair.



So, at 5:30 am on Friday we took Miles to a surgery center the dentist uses for procedures on little ones that need to be sedated. We had to be there at 6 am, and Miles had to be fasting. I was very nervous about this because Miles gets a sippy cup of juice every morning and he is very cranky if he doesn't get it IMMEDIATELY. The night before Matt and a friend gave Miles a blessing, a special prayer for health and comfort during the procedure the next day. Miles didn't ask for food or juice ONCE the whole morning, and was very calm and even happy while we waited til almost 7 am to go back for anesthesia. This is very unlike his normal self, and I know the blessing helped him stay happy on an empty stomach. I thought we'd be back there by 6:15-6:30 tops, so I was getting anxious the longer we had to wait. A new pair of Buzz Lightyear pajamas helped too.


When we went back, Miles was given a dressing gown to wear. However, it was pink! He was not happy, and insisted that he should wear blue. He pronounces it ba-loo. He kept this on for about 5 minutes and then stripped down to his diaper again.



He was then given an oral sedative, cherry flavored but still not great tasting from how he reacted, and then five minutes later the nurses took him back for his IV to be put completely under and we weren't allowed to go back with him. Everything makes me a bit emotional lately, but seeing him put his arms around a total stranger and get carried back without even a look back or a cry made me tear up a bit. I was so happy he wasn't upset and also a little sad that he didn't need us.

About 45 minutes later we were brought back to the recovery room and Miles woke up right before being handed to me. He was groggy and scared, but not in pain. A few bars of the Harry Potter theme from Matt and he calmed down. Such a funny kid! He did throw up a few times while coming off the anesthesia, so we put him on the "sick couch" with blankets and towels. Here he is convalescing with some Gatorade and a get well card that Claire made him propped up behind him.

He was back to his old self by about noon. I didn't think to get a before picture of his teeth but here is one to show the after. They ended up not cutting the frenulum because when they put on the caps they had to cut into his gums a bit and that trimmed it up, enough that the dentist wants to wait to see what his permanent teeth will do. We can see more of his top teeth now than ever before. I think they look really good - they look a bit bigger than his teeth did before, but I don't think anyone but our family would notice. Now, please don't fall and break off your teeth Miles :) Oh, and good news, though it was estimated that even after applying a $1500 dental insurance benefit, we were supposed to pay $1850, when all was said and done our medical insurance picked up some of the cost and we only had to pay $475. What a deal, right? The kids can now get a few Christmas presents this year :)