Only Mae

Mae has been officially well for about 2 months now and apparently needed a little excitement in her life by the way of a medical emergency.

Last week both girls had dentist appointments to have their teeth cleaned. They go to one of those super happy rainbows and sunshine pediatric dentists. During Mae's exam, Dr. Rainbows and sunshine decided that Mae's new front bottom teeth were being crowded by her existing baby canine (the long pointy ones) teeth so doc said there were 2 options to hopefully correct this little issue before her teeth start twisting all around to fit in her mouth. Of course he could do an extraction which would mean pulling both lower canines or he could do a less invasive procedure called disking which is basically shaving off some of the baby canine teeth in hopes that it would offer enough room for the new teeth to align themselves properly. We decided to try the disking first and made an appointment for Thursday of this week, which would have been tomorrow.

We all know that Mae seems to have no trouble ripping teeth out of her mouth that aren't quite ready so we made it clear to her that Dr. Rainbows and Sunshine would be taking care of this one because her tooth was not ready to come out yet, just in the way. Well Monday rolls around (just 3 days before her appointment) and Mae starts playing with the doomed tooth. By evening she had the thing knocked loose but still very attached to her gums and her cheek was all red and swollen. Uh-oh.

First thing yesterday morning I called the dentist office and took her in. I knew this wasn't going to end well, but I tried to stay upbeat and positive for Mae and the ever sensitive Binny who was along for the ride. I debated going in the room with Mae but held back and stayed with Binny in the waiting room which I believe was a good move on my part. The dentist and assistants are really good with kids and most of the time prefer not having the parents around for procedures anyway. As I'm anxiously waiting to hear what's going on, I see doc's smiling face peek around the corner with a finger motion to step into his office. Apparently Mae is stronger than we think because she actually broke off the BONE that holds the canine teeth in place. Doc was in absolute disbelief that a slight 42 pound six year old pushed and pulled so hard on her tooth with her bare hands that she broke the bone. Well believe it doc because I sure as hell didn't hand her a pliers and tell her to go to town. He must have told me 6 or 8 times "She must have a high pain tolerance because that was one hell of a tooth to pull", then immediately apologized for his foul mouth. Like the word "hell" bothers me.

Anyhow, it was no question now that she would need the double extraction after all. The broken tooth had to come out and the other canine needed to come out as well to make sure that the new teeth would seat themselves properly. Back to the waiting room for us. After about 30 minutes we were allowed to go see Mae. Her face was tear soaked and she was crying through a wadded up piece of gauze in her mouth to soak up the blood. Doc. prescribed an antibiotic just to be on the safe side considering her history with infections as well as some Tylenol with codeine for pain and called Mae's pediatrician with all of the details to make her aware of what was going on. Both Dr. Rainbows and Sunshine and the assistant gave specific instructions to a crying Mae that she may not pull any more teeth out of her mouth.

After a few hours and ice cream for lunch Mae was feeling much better and announced to us last night that she only has 4 more baby teeth to go. Almost in unison the gardener and I say "no more!" I just hope she listens.

Oh and did I mention we're leaving tomorrow for a week long vacation? Perfect timing as usual.