Annie's First Visit to the Dentist

Last night, Annie was carrying a plastic bowl around and just happened to trip and fall, landing directly the bowl, teeth first. She ended up chipping her two front teeth. The left tooth was only chipped a little bit in the corner, but the right one had about half of the tooth missing. It was chipped in an arch, so each corner of the tooth was still there. This made the each side of the tooth extremely sharp and pointy. Every time Annie would bite down on her bottom lip, it would bleed because the tooth was too sharp.

I called the pediatric dentist to set up an appointment this morning. Annie didn't mind taking the x-rays. She sat still and let them take the pictures needed. The doctor decided that the right tooth needed to be filled to prevent a future cavity and protect her bottom lip. They started out by giving her some bubble gum flavored numbing gel to spread over her gum. She ended up getting some of the gel on her tongue and lips. Instantly, she started sliding her tongue back and forth on her lips trying to figure out why she couldn't feel anything. It was hilarious!

Once Annie's tongue calmed down, she was given a numbing shot in her gums. She wailed, obviously very uncomfortable by the pain. The doctor then gave us a moment to hold her while she calmed down, then the madness began. Nathan held Annie's arms and legs while the doctor had her head. The whole filling of the tooth took about ten to fifteen minutes and Annie was upset the entire time. By the time it was finished, she was sweating from head to toe with tears covering her face.

As I held her and walked out to the car, she started falling asleep. She ended up taking almost a three-hour nap and waking up much happier. Her lips are still swollen, but overall, she's doing great and her new tooth looks perfect! I am so glad that Annie will not remember this experience, because it was quite a traumatic one for her. Despite the tears, sweat and stress, I am so grateful for the fact that we were able to get this fixed so quickly! It's absolutely amazing that we have all of this technology to fix problems such as this. I feel so blessed to live in this day and age. Hopefully Annie can look back at this experience one day and appreciate it too.