Dental Drama

I have to apologize for my month-long absence fom blogger. My computer futzed out again, but this time HP refused to do the repairs. So now I am without a computer. I can use John's work laptop when he's home, but I'm usually too worn out to be creative by the time he gets home and we eat dinner and get the kids in bed and I finally get online. And now John will be going to Atlanta for 5 days and I won't be able to get online until he returns. I'm going to be awfully lonely this week! Anyway, on to the drama.

Last week Jaina and Libby were playing on our dining room table. That is a no-no in this house, but as I said to my dad "just because it's against the rules doesn't mean they don't do it". Our table is an oval pedestal table, with one large leg in the center. Apparently (I was unaware that this was going on), theyw ere both on one end and the table tipped over. John says Jaina was on her hands and knees and he thinks she slid off face-first and smacked her mouth on the floor. When he got to her, blood was running out of her mouth. I ran in and looked in her mouth and saw her right front tooth kocked backwards, almost flush with the roof of her mouth. I grabbed the phone and called the kid's urgent care to see if they did dental (they don't). While waiting for them to find the number of a pediatric dentist, I was online looking at websites, hoping to find one that had an emergency number. I came across one website and got a really good feeling about that dentist. I got off the phone and called the office number, and was happy to hear an emergency number on their voice mail. I gave John the phone because I was about to lose it, and he called the emergency number. The dentist was really nice, talking to John for about 15 minutes. I was surprised, since we weren't patients of hers. She told him that there wasn't anything that could be done that night, but to bring Jaina in first thing in the morning.

John took Jaina in bright and early. He says the dentist was really nice and the office very kid-friendly. She said the tooth was almost completely out of the socket and couldn't be saved. It would have to be extracted. She called the oral surgeon next door and they set up an appt for Jaina later that morning at their Plano office. John didn't want to bring Jaina home because she wasn't allowed to eat anything before her next appt, so he took her to a park, I think. When they got to the surgeon's office, John found that their anesthesiologist was in our old Allen ward. He wasn't allowed in the office during the extraction, but it made me feel good to know their was a Priesthood holder in the room while Jaina was put to sleep. The extraction itself went very quickly. They had to moniter Jaina for a bit after she woke up, then sent them home. She was disoriented for a while after coming home and couldn't walk or hold her head up very well. It was pretty pititful.

Since Malachi was asleep, I took Libby to Target with me to pick up a few things. We ran to Babies R Us after and Libby picked out a stuffed duck for "Jaina feel better. Fall down, hurt mouth, go doctor". Jaina really likes her new "duck-duck". She wasn't allowed to have sippy cups, straws, bottles, or binkies for three days. We quickly nixed the no-straw rule, because Jaina wouldn't drink out of a normal cup. And the no-binky rule only lasted two days, because the constant crying at bedtime and waking up in the middle of the night just wasn't cool. But now she's well healed and not bleeding on her sheets any more. She even drank out of a sippy cup today.

She looks pretty cute with that little gap in her teeth. But it's sad to know that it could have been prevented. We said months ago that we needed to get a new table. We knew it was just a matter of time before it got tipped over. But we were waiting until we could afford a new one. Dad said it would have been cheaper to buy a new table than to pay the anesthesiologist. True statement. Hindsight is always 20/20. We are very thankful that it was just baby tooth that was lost. The oral surgeon said that there was no damage done to any other teeth, baby or permanent, and that her permanent tooth should come in just fine with no problems. The table is now in pieces in our garage, and we're trying to figure out the next step.

The other drama - I chipped one of my crowns eating a jawbreaker the same day Jaina knocked out her tooth. Thankfully, my dentist appt consisted of a free 10-minute repair. Thank goodness these suckers are under warrenty!