Today (Sunday), Alex went to the dentist to have his two bottom front teeth pulled. I am sure that the dentist and the four hygienists it took to hold him down will be talking about the experience for a while. The whole thing left me feeling like I had been hit by a MAC truck, but let me give you some background...
Back in May, Alex visited his dentist, Dr. D, in PA. At that time, we knew he had two permanent teeth coming in behind his bottom front baby teeth. Dr. D told him to wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, and if he didn't get them out by his next appointment we would talk about pulling them. Since more than six months had come and gone, and there was no sign of the teeth being extracted by Alex, we made the dreaded appointment for Alex to have them extracted by a dentist here. About a month ago, Scott had an emergency crown repair, so we were lucky to have a dentist in mind. Yesterday, I broke the news to Alex. I explained that we made the appointment with the dentist Scott saw. I described the procedure to him in great detail.... gas mask, topical anesthetic, Novocaine shot, teeth pulled, ice cream, tooth fairy, done. I should have read into the foreshadowing indicated by his blase reaction. He shrugged his shoulders, accepted his fate, and declared that it was ok since he knew the teeth had to come out. That would have been too easy.
When we left for the dentist at 3:00pm, I could see the worry in his face, but he still sounded brave. When we arrived at the dentist, he remained calm. He checked out the turtle pond in the front yard, liked the fish tank on the first floor office, and perused magazines in the waiting room. When the hygienist took us to the room, he climbed into the chair and greeted the dentist. They fitted him with the laughing gas mask, and I could tell things were going to go downhill fast. He complained about the gas mask. When they used the topical to numb his gum, he was ok at first, then started to get upset. He said the topical made his tongue burn, so they rinsed him out. When he saw that the dentist was going to give him a shot, he freaked. I am not exaggerating. We refused to lay down, he cried, he kicked, he punched, we threatened, we reasoned, we held him down, he SCREAMED. I left the room, and I could hear his screams in the waiting room. The doctor had not even given him the shot, yet, let alone touched the teeth that were to be pulled. After what seemed like an eternity in the waiting room describing my woes to an older, sympathetic Brit, the dentist called me into a larger exam room. She wanted to know if I wanted to continue or call it off. Emotionally, I wanted to call it a day. Rationally, I knew that letting Alex know this kind of behavior would give him what he wanted was a BAD idea. I told her to carry on and get the teeth out. Her concern was that he would be afraid of the dentist for the next time, but honestly, if he was going to be traumatized, it had already happened. So, Scott dragged Alex yelling and screaming into a larger exam room where everyone could help hold him down. Amidst his shrieks of "You're going to kill me, I'm going to kill myself if you do this...", I had to leave the room. While I was sobbing in the hall, I heard some banshee-like screaming followed by silence. The lock turned, the dentist emerged, and the deed was done. Once they got the shot in him, the procedure was done in minutes, and he calmed quickly. I walked into the room, and he was holding the gauze on the holes where his teeth once were. He told us he didn't even feel the shot, and it did not hurt when she pulled the teeth. Relieved, Scott and I hightailed it out of that office as fast as we could. Alex shook the dentist's hand and agreed that he would come back in a few months for a cleaning. I really, really, really hope he never has to have teeth pulled again. On the way to the car, I asked Alex if perhaps we should find a pediatric dentist instead of a general dentist for his next appointment. His response was, "No, Mom. I liked that dentist." I'd hate to know how he would behave for a dentist he did not like.
BeforeThis is the story in Alex's own words:
"When we were going out the door, I was skipping, expecting nothing too bad to happen at the dentist. When we got there, after waiting, which wasn't too long, we went into a room. They had me sit down on a chair that could move up and down, well, the headrest, really. Then, the dentist gave me this mask thing that the first one was too big, but then the dentist got a different one that was like a Rudolph nose that fit me. It pumped in this gas called laughing gas into my nose. It was either supposed to make me go to sleep or make me silly (maybe being silly was sometimes just a side effect). Then after they had that on, the dentist gave me this Q-tip with some medicine on it to make my gum go numb. After that, they tried and tried to get me to get my x-ray. But I refused. Then Mom said "If we don't get the x-ray what if the dentist gets the wrong teeth and pulls your big ones out?" Later, it took so long, that the dentist had to do the medicine again, but I tried to refuse, except after they said they would use Mr. Thirsty (which is this sucking machine). The dentist also tried to do the shot without my gum numb, so then I said "Oh, ok, we can do it again." After that, when they finally did the shot, it didn't hurt (my gum was numb). So, it hurt a little einsy weensy bit because of the Novocaine. Then, after that, they used this cool looking tool to take my teeth out. It was like I heard a little crunching sound, then the teeth were out. After I had to put this cotton in my mouth. Well, maybe it was paper, I'm not sure, maybe cotton paper. But after everything, later that night, I had to have ice cream for dinner! At first I didn't believe Mom. But then, she told me that it really would help my teeth, and it would be good for me to eat it! Tonight, I can't wait to see what the tooth fairy will give me!"
AfterP.S.
Much to Alex's delight, the tooth fairy slipped 50 dirhams into his tooth fairy pillow and left his teeth for him to keep.
