A visit from the Tooth Fairy...

Unfortunately the Tooth Fairy had to make a visit to our house a little sooner than we expected...

Last week Joey was complaining that his tooth hurt so we brought him in to the dentist. The dentist found a cavity in one of his molars and referred us to a pediatric dentist to get it filled. Luckily we were able to get an appointment the next day and they were able to get an x-ray to confirm that he did have a cavity. The pediatric dentist and his assistant were awesome!! I cannot say enough good things about them. They actually made the dentist visit fun (if you can believe that). When we were leaving, Joey said he "loves this place"... The next day we returned to get the cavity filled and I thought for sure he'd be singing a different tune. Before they started the dentist told us there is a possibility that the tooth was abscessed and if it was, he would need to pull it. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened and they had to pull it. Now, you might be thinking... how in the world did they get him to sit still throughout the procedure? Well the dentist told me it usually works best if the parents are not in the room so I asked Joey if it would be okay if I left and all he said was "bye mom"... okay... not what I expected him to say but whatever. They gave him nitrous oxide to help him relax so they could numb his mouth and then went to work. When the dentist was done, he brought us into his office to explain what had happened and said Joey did great... just a few tears toward the end. Then in comes Joey... all smiles... excited to show us his tooth and the new toy he got for being such a good boy. Again... I was amazed at how good they were with him. They made what could have been a very traumatic experience into something not-so-scary and the best part is that he's not afraid of going back... which he will have to do soon to get a space maintainer put in. UGH!!! I think this whole experience was definitely much harder on mommy! Talk about stress!

Before this happened we helped Joey brush his teeth twice a day, every day. Now we're a little OCD about brushing and flossing. The dentist told us it is common for children to get cavities between the teeth from not flossing good enough... so that means no more slacking on the flossing! Their enamel is not as strong so it doesn't take long for cavities to develop. Luckily, Joey is tolerant of us flossing his teeth (for the most part). Sam, on the other hand, doesn't care for it much. I pretty much need to pin him down and move quickly. I've read that this can sometimes be hereditary so it's hard when we don't have any family history on either of the boys but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is an isolated incident...

Now, back to the Tooth Fairy. We got him a special treasure box to put his tooth in and set it on his nightstand. Before going to bed, he had about 20 questions to ask about the Tooth Fairy but ultimately seemed satisfied with my answers (phew!). When I asked him how much money he thought the Tooth Fairy would give him for his tooth, he didn't hesitate and quickly responded with "$50.00"... nice try buddy! When he woke up and saw a stack of quarters in his treasure chest, he was SO excited... he came running into our room to tell us all about it.