So, here is the quickest recap I can give you.....
2 weeks ago we went in to get Ashley's space maintainer (pretty much a retainer that wraps around her back molars, lines her existing teeth and fills her missing space with a fake tooth) put in. A month ago after she had the surgery to get the tooth removed, the dentist had said that it should be a pretty painless procedure but she wouldn't like it. He said it might take 10 or so minutes to pop the retainer in and cement it to her existing molars.
Ha ha.... if only it could have been that "easy."
So we get to the dentist office and right away Ashley remembers the trauma of the previous time there where she was forced to go without paci for 24 hours. She tells me over and over that she doesn't want to be there and that she doesn't want a new tooth or to see the tooth fairy. I convince her that it's going to be ok and the rest of the time in the waiting room she is fine. Thankfully my mom decided to join us and got there right before we were called back. We head back and after 5 minutes of trying to get Ashley to sit on the dentist chair (Thankfully Abby was there to comfort her and cuddle with her on the chair) they started what was supposed to be quick and easy.
They tried the retainer on Ashley and after a minute Ashley starts to not like them in her mouth. So, Abby is removed from the chair and after a big 5 or so minute fight by Ashley and 3 nurses needing to restrain her, they find out that the retainer is too big for her mouth and they needed to make another one. So then for another 10 minutes or so they are trying to re-size this screaming child with metal brackets that wrap around her molars. She is not having any of it (come on, who would?) and the nurses are continuing to pry her mouth open and fit her for the retainer while telling her not to scream because she might swallow the metal fasteners. Yes, I am dead serious. Then after 30 minute of bloody hell breaking loose, the nurses give up and the dentist comes in who then spends almost 10 minutes in her mouth trying to fit her with new brackets. At this point Abby had started screaming and I was in the corner breastfeeding and not about to leave my daughter alone with these people (and they had requested that I leave the room). Then after they fit her with the molar brackets they then inform me that they have to take another mold of the roof of her mouth (she had had a mold done on the roof of her mouth when she was under anethesia during the last visit). I sit in horror as I watch my daughter get her mouth stuffed with the molding stuff, gagging on her spit and being told to breathe through her nose. It was a nightmare. The nurses asked me how I was doing at this point and I said my first words in over 30 minutes. I told them, "As good as you could possibly think I could be doing." And to make it worse, my poor baby girl had NO clue what was going on. So finally after 45 minutes of pure hell, she is back in my arms when all I can do is hold her and try my hardest not to scream at the dentist.
Then the dentist asked me if I had any questions. I almost blew my top. I took a deep breath and asked if I should be preparing myself and Ashley to go through this again. He told me no. And then I looked him straight in the eye and said, "Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Ashley already all of this done, the bracket fitted and a mold of her mouth, while she was under anethesia?" Then he had the nerve to look me in the eye and tell me that sometimes you get a better mold of a child mouth when they are awake. Come on doc. I may not be in the dentist field but I am no dummy...... I just gaped at him with my mouth wide open, turned and left the room. Ashley got 5 warm cookies to bring home with everyone and was still toothless.
We set the appointment for the retainer to be put in on Nov. 9 since the only other opening they had was on Halloween and honestly I wasn't ruining my child's Halloween (or mine for that matter).
Then this past Wednesday we get a call saying that the retainer is in the office and they needed to get Ashley in ASAP to get it in. I informed them that the soonest they told me was Nov 9th. Then the girl I talked with asked if we could come in the next day and they'd get me in right after their lunch break at 1. She said it shouldn't take longer then 15 minutes. So as unhappy as I was with the dentist I wanted to get this over with and decided to go the next day.
We get there at 12:55 and Ashley is all fear about going in. Luckily Anna was there to help her remember the good things about the dentist (the toys, cookie, neat movie on the ceiling, and how Anna was brave last time she was there and etc....) so Ashley was ok with being there. At 1:10 the nurse comes out to tell me that they are just finishing up getting everything ready and that we would be called back soon. Then she made a comment about how I had all 3 kids with me and I just smiled. Minutes passed and slowly Ashley is clinging more and more to me saying she is tired and wants to go home for her nap. She is mentioning how she doesn't like the tooth fairies house (the dentist) and how she doesn't want a new tooth. I am getting nervous and as the minutes continue to tick away I am getting furious. At about 1:30 Ashley completely wets herself (which she hasn't done in months) and refuses to go to the potty because she doesn't like it there. After I clean that mess up, I go up to the front desk at 1:45 and demand that we be seen now. I told them that I have people coming over (which I did) at 2:00 and that I live 15 minutes away. You won't believe it.... we are finally called back at 1:55 and NO APOLOGY is given.
The nurse tries to slam the retainer in Ashley mouth once again and fiddles with her for 5 minutes before finally going and getting the dentist. 5 painful minutes later the dentist has gotten it in place and has cemented it in. All this time I was practically on top of Ashley on the dentist chair because we couldn't pry her off of me she was hugging me so hard and pure fear. As soon as the dentist finished I took all 3 kids (luckily Abby slept the entire time) and walked out. As I was passing the lady at billing she called me back and I turned and gave her the look of death and said, "Just send me the bill." And then I walked out of Dr. Fales office for the final time. There is no way I am ever going back to that place. Poor, poor Ashley.
So then we spend the rest of the afternoon/evening with Ashley telling us she doesn't want that tooth anymore and that it hurts. She continues to cry and whine and says that she doesn't like her paci's anymore because they don't squeak. It took 3 hours to get her to fall asleep at night and she was constantly crying and whining that her tooth hurt. She did take these pictures of her tooth with the ipad that night while in a short lived successful attempt to calm her down....
Luckily she slept great and when she woke up the nest day she was in good spirits. She found out that her paci doesn't hurt in her mouth (she was over the moon excited) and she decided that she actually likes her new tooth. I was very relieved because I don't think I could have handled going back to the dentist one more time.
So there you go, our dental nightmare. Poor, poor Ashley.
Much Love,
Jenny
Boo, this makes me so sad for Ashley and you!
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