Mid December we stopped in Steve's new office on a Saturday afternoon to check it out. After arguing about who was going to push the button Ruby bonked her face into the metal railing in the elevator. We comforted her, scolded them both for fighting and continued our tour. Until... Ruby: "My tooth feels funny." Oh crap. Sure enough one of her two (permanent) front teeth (not yet fully in) had a large chip. We called the emergency number (and my aunt Debbie!) and were assured Ruby would be okay until Monday morning when we could bring her in to have the dentist look at it and fix the chip.
Monday morning the dentist suggested scheduling an appointment so that we could fix the chip at the same time we capped her four molars. We've known she was going to need them filled once they were fully in because, for some unknown reason, the enamel never developed on them. So we scheduled the appointment for the following week, the Thursday before Christmas, when Ruby would be out of school.
Fast forward six days to Sunday evening and the girls were running around the house. They came around a corner and smacked into each other. Hard. Ada immediately had a goose egg on her forehead, Ruby's mouth was gushing blood and both girls were crying (and Steve was mad). Once we got calmed down a bit and cleaned up, I could see that Ruby's other front tooth was wiggling, hanging down much lower than previously, and everything was crooked. I have pictures, but I can't bear to post them. Or look at them.
I called the dentist emergency line. Again. (Still waiting on CPS to show up.) We went back to the dentist right away in the morning. By this time Ruby's lips and gums were horribly swollen as well. The dentist put a wire (basically braces) across her front teeth and told us to keep her on a soft food diet. Needless to say, soup was basically the only thing she would want to eat for several days anyway.
When you can't eat popcorn at the movies, you get the large slushy!
We went back in three days for our original appointment to fix the chip and cap the molars. This was the worst of all of the appointments for Ruby. Not because it was at all painful or uncomfortable, but because she had to drink some medicine- the horrors! They gave her an oral medication and gas to sedate her for the work. I am SO grateful that we take the girls to a pediatric dentist. Even with all of the drama, the girls don't dread going to the dentist and actually look forward to it. It's quite the place, iPads, tv's on the ceiling, flavored toothpaste, and coins for gumball machines when they're done. The hygienists even wear flavored gloves and the nose mask thingy for the gas is scented. They did a temporary fix on the chipped tooth and the fillings on the molars went well. These will probably need to be redone down the road, but that seems like #nbd after all we've been though.
We stayed on a soft food diet over Christmas and the swelling and discomfort went down. We went back two weeks later and they looked stable enough to remove the wire and re-fix the chipped tooth. This was the worst appointment for me- watching them remove the wire was not my idea of fun. While everything was looking better, we are still far from out of the woods. It's a wait-and-see thing now, praying that the teeth will take hold and Ruby won't need a root canal. The chipped tooth will also have to be redone as her permanent teeth continue to come in and shift around. Everything is also still very crooked. So we're keeping our dental insurance and opening a "braces fund".
It's not pretty, but it looks much better and doesn't seem to be bothering Ruby much. She was really hoping she'd be able to start eating regularly again, but nothing hard or crunchy until at least our next appointment. In March.
Oh yeah, and both girls had their 6 month cleaning and check ups scheduled for late December too, so I think we were at the dentist five times in three weeks.
In good hands at home and the dental office! Glad things are shaping up and thanks for the update!
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