I took the girls to their semi annual dentist check up in April and well, who am I kidding, nobody likes the dentist. Except my Ani..she was so excited to go to the dentist. She's such a big girl when they do the x-rays (even though they stick that much too large thing in their mouth to get the picture and as many times as they try to tell them it "tickles," it doesn't feel a thing like being tickled), and she loves wearing the sunglasses and getting her teeth cleaned. Her favorite part, of course is all the prizes they get at the end and coming home with new floss, toothpaste and a toothbrush. This time she did awesome once again on the x-rays and then they did her cleaning and all was well, but then the hygenist recommended we put sealants on her six year molars. I figured this was just normal protocol so I consented. This, Anisten didn't like so much. Her mouth was stuck open and filled with cotton and this "tough love" hygenist (I don't want to hear any sad sounds or you aren't getting a prize!) was stuffing all kinds of funky tasting things in her mouth. She cried through the first one and had to very strongly coax her into doing the second one, but she survived it. Although I don't think she was loving her dentist appointment so much this time.
Then the dentist came to have a look and noticed a problem. Ani had "shark" teeth for awhile because she had a tooth growing in behind one on the bottom that hadn't yet come out. The doctor noticed this and noticed that the front tooth would not be coming out on its own since the tooth behind it was trying to come up. It made it so the root wouldn't dissolve (thanks to Shari for explaining...they were no help at the dentist's office). So he asked that Anisten come back for an extraction. Ugh. Anisten's not dumb and she knew what we were talking about when I scheduled an appointment for her the next week. I believe she was dreading that day for the entire week (as was I). When I took her in she was very brave. I know she didn't want it to happen, but she put on a happy face and tried to be brave.
Once we got in the room, Anisten immediately began getting nervous. When they tried to put the breathing tube in her nose, she started crying. For some reason she really didn't want that. They nurse/hygenist (I don't know what to call her) talked her through it and explained as much as she could as to why they were doing what they were doing and used a little tough love as well, but in this situation, it was more understandable. The dentist came in after she was somewhat numb from the gel and he numbed her more with the shot, which she felt. : \ He was so good though and just kept encouraging her and telling her how well she was doing even though she was kinda flipping out. The glasses apparently had a movie showing in them, which I thought was awesome, but they practically had to force her to wear them. I guess she wanted to see what was going on or something.
The whole process took maybe ten minutes and her tooth was out! Ani was still dealing with some pain and the strange numbness (I hate that too!), but she collected her prizes and then I drove her to the Dollar Store to pick out something else. (I told her she could go anywhere and she chose the Dollar Store. :) She asked if she could get as many as she wanted, so I asked her how many she wanted and she said "Two." I was like "Two it is!")
Here is her tooth with the huge root. Look at that thing! No wonder she was feeling some pain afterward.
She put her tooth in this little pink box they gave her and that's what the Tooth Fairy put her money and tooth receipts in. As traumatic as it was, she was able to get over it pretty fast and it's a safe bet that her next dentist experience will go better. Love you brave girl!
On a side note: Anisten learned how to tie shoes! She was so excited about it that we had to go out and buy her lace up shoes as soon as we possible could. She loves them and wears them all the time and she's so happy that she can tie them herself.
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