Not so smooth...

Haley had her last sealant appointment.  The dentist suggested that we do each section of her teeth separately so it wouldn't be too big of a deal for her.  I think it helped.  She had done so well on the previous one that I wasn't worried about this one at all.  

I thought everything would go so smoothly.

Little did I know.

Her appointment was scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on a Friday.  She also was scheduled to go to Yoga that Friday at 5:30 p.m.  My plan was to take her to the dentist and then bring her home.  Our cat had recently had some surgery and I had made an appointment for him to get the sutures out at 5:00 p.m.  

I was going to take the cat in to the vet and Haley's Dad was going to take her to Yoga.  

Just before Haley got home from school I went upstairs to talk to her Dad.  We decided that I should have plenty of time to do everything I had planned, but if worse came to worse he could take the cat to the vet.  After Haley got off the bus I gave her a drink and a snack.  When she was done I explained to her that she had a dentist appointment and then we brushed her teeth and headed out the door.

We got to the dentist's office a little early.  Haley went straight for the the big button on the wall that allows her to operate the train that runs around the ceiling of the waiting room  She loves that train and she loves that big red button.  I checked her in with the front desk and took a seat.  There were a couple of other kids and their parents in the waiting room.

Those kids were called in one by one.  I didn't really pay attention to the time, but it did seem that there was a lot of time between each kid.  Eventually I decided to look at the time.  We had been waiting for almost an hour.  I could tell that Haley was getting impatient.  Actually truth be told she was being amazingly patient, considering.  I walked over to her and talked to her about some of the things on the shelves.  A movie had been playing since we walked in to the office.  

The movie was over.

I started to investigate.  To see if I could get the movie started again.  The nurse came out and apologized and said it would be another twenty minutes.  I texted my husband that we were not in yet and that it was looking like he might have to take the cat to the vet.

Finally Haley was called in.  The hygienist asked her if she wanted to watch Spirit, she remembered that was the movie she had chosen the time before.  Haley said "Yeah."  She handed her the case with the DVDs in it and Haley dutifully turned each page until she found the Spirit DVD.  After that the hygienist got the video glasses and headphones all set up and laid Haley back in the seat to watch.

We waited some more.

The dentist was obviously busy in another part of the office.  I could hear a little kid screaming and crying.  I hoped that Haley didn't hear it over the sound of her video.

Finally the dentist came in and greeted us.  She laid Haley back some more and Haley opened her mouth.  She got right to work - again without the "happy air" that she used the first time.  After a few minutes she stopped and looked up at me "She has a cavity, we are going to have to fill it."  I nodded.  She showed me the whole in Haley's tooth.  Haley got a shot of Novocain.  She didn't even flinch.  The hygentist offered her a popsicle.  They told me to watch her.  They didn't want her to bite her cheek.  So we sat there and waited for her to get numb.  I realized that this was going to be a long one.  

I texted my husband "Plan B - Go!"

After a while the hygienist came in and then left again.  I heard her talking to the dentist in the hall.  She was pleading our case.  I heard her say "They have been here a long time."  

No kidding!

So the dentist came in.  She put one of those rubber dam things in Haley's mouth and then got to work.  She showed me the space that she had made for the filling.  I had never seen that before, it was interesting.  Then she filled the tooth.  Haley was perfect.  She sat so still.  She was gripping the arms of the seat throughout the whole procedure.  I patted her hand and occasionally rubbed her leg.  I felt her legs tense up a couple of times, but that was the extent of her reaction.  When they were done they took the rubber dam out of her mouth and as they sat her up she put up both of her hands for High Fives.  

I looked at the clock on my phone.  She had had that rubber dam in her mouth for forty five minutes.  Not only did my husband need to take the cat to the vet.  We were going to be late for Yoga.  I tried to text my husband, but he wasn't answering.  I realized that my phone battery was going to die.  I sent an email to the Yoga instructor.  Between the slow internet connection I had and the fact that my phone was dying I didn't think that she would get it.

We left the dentist's office at 5:30 p.m.  I drove straight to Yoga.  Haley was making funny sounds from the back seat.   I looked in the rear view mirror and realized that she was not liking the way that her face felt.  She was touching her face and whining.  I tried to explain to her that it would get better soon.  She started crying.  

I looked in the rear view mirror again and it was quite a sight.  She had her mouth open crying, but half of her face was slack.  It was disturbing.  I realized that between the funny feeling in her face and the panic I was projecting about being late, she didn't know how to react.  I tried to talk calmly.  I told her that we would soon be at Yoga.  I reminded her how much fun Yoga is.  She calmed down a little.

When we drove up the Yoga instructor looked up and smiled.  When we walked in she told me that my husband had called and that she got my email.  I was amazed.  I explained the situation to her and she said that she would take it easy on Haley.  She removed the hardest Yoga poses from Haley's schedule, especially the ones where Haley would have to be upside down.  

She told me that once she had done Yoga after a dentist appointment and that she had had an anxiety attack.  Her instructor had told her that Yoga causes increased blood flow throughout the body and that the Novocain that was shooting through her system caused her anxiety.  

So Haley had a very laid back relaxing Yoga session, by the end of it she seemed to be feeling a lot better.  I asked her if her face felt better.  She said "Yeah."  

When we got home I made her a smoothie.

No Big Deal

Haley went to the dentist again yesterday for more sealants.  It was really no big deal.

She sat down in the chair.  When the dental assistant asked her if she wanted to watch a movie she said "Yes."  Then she picked a movie and let the dental assistant lay her seat back.  She waited patiently while the dental assistant worked with the equipment and got it running.  Then she put the video glasses and the headphones on her.

We had to wait a little bit for the dentist.

No one said anything about the "happy air."

The dentist came in and greeted us both.  She laid Haley back a little more.  She told her she was going to clean her teeth and Haley opened her mouth.

The whole thing went off without a hitch.

You would have thought that she did it every day.  You would have thought that she never had any qualms about the dentist.  You would have thought that she was a mature fourteen year old getting a routine treatment.

I was blown away!

She has come so far from where we started.

She knows it too.

When it was all over they sat her up and took off the video equipment and she immediately put both of her hands up for a double high five.  She knew that she had accomplished something.  The dentist just kept saying that she was amazing.

Where have I heard that before?

Amazing! Part 2

Haley had her filling appointment on Saturday.  She was so good.

I have titled this post "Amazing! Part 2", because that is what her dentist kept saying. 

"She is amazing, Mom."

We arrived a little early so that Haley could watch the train go around the track near the ceiling of the waiting room.  They have a giant button on the wall that kids can push that operates the train.  It is Haley's favorite thing about the dentist.

They called her in and she sat down in the dentist's chair.  The hygienist asked her if she wanted to watch a movie.  She said "yeah."

This has not worked well in the past.  They have a really space aged system that looks like virtual reality glasses with headphones.  The last time we tried this she did not like all the stuff that we put on her head. 

She chose Pocahontas.  They got her set up with the video and the earphones.  Then we waited. 

Well, I waited.  She was fine, laying back watching a movie.

I don't know if you will be able to see this, but she is looking at me in this picture.  She did this a lot.  Of course, she is doing it now because I got the camera out, but she looked at me a lot during her appointment.  I just kept smiling at her.  I was trying to be reassuring.

So after this the hygienist put the "Happy Air" mask on her.  We decided to use the Happy Air just so that she would lay still.  She had it when she had her tooth Wiggled Out and she seemed fine with it.  Haley chose strawberry for the scent of her Happy Air.  It went just over her nose.  She laid there watching her movie and breathing in her Happy Air for a long time.  The dentist was busy with other patients.  I am sure Haley was feeling fine, but I got more and more nervous as time went on. 

I started wishing they had offered me the Happy Air instead.

The hygienist offered her a Popsicle.  A little while later she offered her another one.

Eventually the dentist came in and got everything under way. 

Then not only did Haley have the movie glasses, the earphones and the Happy Air face mask on, in her mouth she had the drill, the suction, the thing that looked like a scissors that was holding her mouth open and two pairs of gloved hands.

She just laid there.

I know that all of that is not unusual for someone who is getting a tooth filled, but this is a little girl that up until very recently wouldn't let me put my finger in her mouth to check to see if her new tooth was coming in.

I am sure that the Happy Air had something to do with it, but even so, she was doing so well.

The doctor explained what she was doing to Haley the whole time.  Not technically of course, but in a way that was reassuring to Haley.  She told her that she was going to brush her teeth when what she was really doing was drilling.  She kept telling Haley that she was doing a really good job and she kept telling me that she was amazing.

Every once in a while her feet would twitch, she would tighten up her leg muscles or she would flex her foot.  I don't know if at those times she was feeling something or dancing to the music of Pocahontas.  It made me nervous.  When she did that I would reach over and rub or pat her leg.  I was worried that she was feeling pain.  They didn't use any kind of numbing agent. 

She never made a sound.   

At one point she gripped the arm rests.  I patted the hand closest to me and she reached for my hand.  I held it for a while.  She held my hand and then she relaxed and let go.  She grabbed the arm again.  Still no sound.

When they were all done she gave me a high five.

She wanted to get up, but they wanted her to lay back and breathe straight oxygen for five minutes.  She was still watching the movie.  The doctor told me again that she was amazing and left the room.  After the five minutes was up Haley got to choose something from the prize room.

I had a little more trouble with this appointment than she did apparently.  It took me a while to feel calm again.  Haley seemed fine though.  She said her tooth was better.

The moral of this story is:  I should never underestimate my child.  She amazes me at every turn.  Just when I think that something will never happen for her, or that something will be traumatic or she won't be up to the challenge I find out that she is. 

That she is strong. She is smart. She is capable.

She is amazing.

A Little Sticky

Haley had a dentist appointment on Friday morning.  It was the best one yet. 

Well, kind of. 

She sat right down and let the hygienist put the seat back down.  She was very still and very calm.  She opened her mouth wider every time she was asked. 

I kept resisting the urge to get my camera out and take pictures, or perhaps video.  I knew that if I did I would break the spell.  Every little thing the the hygienist did I was sure was going to set her off, but it never happened.  She was able to polish all of her teeth.  Floss them.  She even scraped the tartar from her teeth. 

I was floored. 

Never did I think that the day would come when Haley would lay back and allow someone to pick at her teeth with a sharp instrument.  When she was done the hygienist sat her up and Haley reached out to me. 

She wanted a high five. 

She knew that she had done well.  I was so proud.  I told her how good she was.  I said "It was so much easier that way wasn't it?   You didn't have to hold your head up the whole time."

She said "Yeah.  Good job."

The dentist wasn't quite ready to see her yet so she was able to get up and get her prize.  She is so used to that routine that she didn't even need me.  The hygienist gave her a plastic bag and she went in to the prize room.  She chose a little car and a bouncy ball that lights up.  Then she got herself a new toothbrush, some flossers and a new timer. 

She sat back down and we waited for the dentist.

Soon the dentist came in and laid her back in the chair again.  There was a slight hesitation, but she let her.  The dentist asked her to open her mouth and she used the instruments to examine her teeth.  She poked and poked and then said "This one is a little sticky." 

She has a cavity. 

The dentist wants to put sealants on several of her teeth too, but she doesn't want to do it all at once.  She also thinks that we should have an orthodontist consultation.  I had a feeling that would happen some day.  At this point I don't see Haley getting braces, but we will see.

So I made an appointment for Haley to get a filling.

That should be interesting.

"Wiggled" Out

Thursday morning Haley had an appointment to have her canine baby tooth extracted or "wiggled out" as the dentist put it.  I tried to explain to her what would be happening.  I asked her if she remembered when her other teeth had come out.  I have not been privy to that. 

I would notice occasionally that a tooth was missing, but I never knew when it had come out or where it went.  I don't know if she took them out of her mouth and put them in the garbage or if she simply swallowed them.  I told her that one of her teeth needed to come out and that the dentist was going to take it out.  I told her that she would have something over her nose that would help her relax and that the dentist would take the tooth out and then we would go home.

We got to go into a different room in the dentist's office.  It was still decorated with fish, but it had a door that shut.  Haley sat down in the chair and the doctor came in right away.  He explained to me what was going to happen and then he tried to get Haley to sit back.  She did really surprisingly well and then she sat back up again.  The dentist tried several different positions until they came to a mutually agreeable one.

They put the gas mask on her nose and asked her what it smelled like.  Apparently it smelled like cotton candy, she didn't say.  Haley took it off and put it back on many times.  I was afraid that she wasn't breathing through her nose.  It almost seemed like she was trying to get more air.  Eventually she relaxed and put her head back on the chair after much coaxing.  After a while she kind of got a little smile on her face.

The dentist put a swab in her mouth that would numb the area he was going to work on.  She put up with that really well.  Then he used the needle.  I hate needles.  Truth be told, I hate the dentist.  Not this one, but the whole experience in general.  My children are much better about going to the dentist than I ever was. 

Haley actually took the needle really well.  I saw her foot flinch a couple of times, but that was it.  The dentist took a long time with the needle, I mean a long time.  He was basically upside down the whole time and I was fully expecting his arm to start shaking, but he did it.  We all breathed a sigh of relief when it was over.

Haley actually kind of giggled.  Then she pointed at something on the wall.  Then she sort of waved at me.  I said "Hi, Haley." and waved back.  A little while later the dentist went through that whole process again.  The second time the hygienist had to hold her hand.  Throughout the whole thing she constantly told Haley what a good job she was doing.

The dentist had the hygienist squirt water in her mouth and run the suction, presumably to keep her distracted, while he "wiggled out" the tooth.  I rubbed her leg and prayed.  Soon it was out and again there was a collective sigh of relief.  The dentist said "We did it, Mom."  I was crying.

He tried to get Haley to bite down on the tube of cotton, but she wouldn't.  He told me it would be a few hours before her mouth would feel normal and that she needed to be careful not to bite her tongue, her cheek or her lip.  I thought to myself, what can I do about that and we were done.  Haley got to choose two "prizes" from the prize room, they had horses.  There were no horses on Tuesday.  I think they were there because of her (she carried Chelsea and Sandy to both appointments.)

I bought applesauce, sweet potatoes and rice cereal so she wouldn't have to chew.  She didn't appreciate her lunch very much.  I tried to give her a little coconut milk ice cream, but it seemed to bother her tooth.  I gave her Tylenol after some tears and she spent the rest of the day resting on the couch.

Again, my child has amazed me.  She did so well.

The Best Dentist Ever

Haley's history with the dentist has not been good.  At one of her early appointments the hygienist tried to put the bite wings in her mouth first thing and Haley wasn't having it.  They really couldn't do anything else with her after that.  The next time I asked them to clean her teeth first because of the previous experience.  They tried to sit the chair back.  No.  I sat on the chair and held her on my lap, we tried to lean the chair back.  No.  Haley does not like to lie back for anything.  Not for a haircut and not for the dentist.

I thought that she would like the cleaning because she used a tool that vibrated around her mouth in speech therapy and she seemed to like that, but even though they tried to clean her teeth with her still sitting up she really wouldn't cooperate.  The dentist came in to look at her teeth and told me that her constant drooling was keeping her teeth very clean.  I took comfort in that. 

True confessions:  She didn't see another dentist for six years.  I didn't do that intentionally.   I never said "Well she will not be going back to the dentist and that is that."  Time got away from me.  Next thing you know it was six years later and she hadn't seen a dentist and I panicked.

Luckily I was talking to a friend of mine about teeth and dentists and she recommended me to the dentist she takes her kids to.  Dentistry for Children.  I called them and explained our situation, Haley is developmentally delayed, Haley will not sit back, she probably won't even open her mouth, but she hasn't been to a dentist in six years and I know she needs to go.  They made an appointment for early in the morning before anyone else would be there.

We walked in to the office and Haley bee-lined straight for the Thomas the Tank Engine layout.  The place was full of toys and Disney music was playing from the overhead speakers.  They showed Haley around the office and let her look at each cubicle.  Each one was decorated differently; some with fish, some with woodland creatures and one with a pirate theme.   They also had a train set that ran around the office near the ceiling.  Haley loved the place.

They were very patient with Haley.  They tried to get her to sit back, but didn't push it too much.  They used a lot of cute techniques to get her to open her mouth.  The first couple of visits were just to get Haley used to the idea of being there.  I think it was about the fourth visit when they finally cleaned every tooth and got some x-rays.

The x-ray experience amazed me.  They could hold something in her mouth that was connected to the computer and in seconds the images were on the screen.  It was so efficient and quick.  Some of the hygienists are better than others at getting her to cooperate, but they are all so sweet.  They really love her there.

Haley had a appointment this week for a cleaning.  She has lost a lot of her baby teeth, but one is still hanging on.  She did pretty well getting her teeth cleaned and letting them check them over.  The hygienist that worked on her was a little timid and Haley can sense that.  She does better with someone that has a gentle but firm hand.  The doctor came in a checked her teeth and told me that he would like to see what they called a "pano" which would give him a better look at the state of her whole mouth.

Haley needed to stand still in a machine and put her chin on a rest and hold something in her mouth and bite down, the machine circled around her to take the picture.  I was dubious that she would do all of that, but she amazed me once again.  The picture was very interesting, we forgot to take her glasses off so on the screen was what looked like a giant grin wearing glasses.

The thing that stood out the most about the x-ray is that above the canine that had not come out yet was a tooth that sat at a right angle to the rest of her teeth.  The dentist said that the baby tooth would have to be extracted so that the rogue tooth would have a chance to come down.  He said that it might just come down on it's own and it might not, but if that baby tooth didn't come out that it would most likely not come down.

So I made an appointment to have her tooth extracted.  Tune in tomorrow to find out what happens next.