My poor Ethan is going to have a lifetime of dental work! Since he was young he's never had good teeth. It all started out with good old baby bottle tooth decay. Yep, he used to walk around the house with the bottle hanging out of his mouth. He loved it. So his top two front teeth were in pretty bad shape. So by the time he was in preschool, he had to have dental surgery which included 2 root canals (one on the top front tooth and another on the lower), and filling about 2 or 3 cavaties. Poor kid. Hard on mom too since I had to see him come off anesthesia and hold him while he threw up after.
Since then, he's had more cavaties, an absessed tooth which got pulled right away, and more pulled teeth to make way for new teeth, since his new teeth always come in before the baby tooth has come out, and now a spacer retainer to pull his front two teeth forward. THANKFULLY, I have a brother-in-law, Jon, who is a dentist which makes it possible for us not to have to pay for dental work (of which we are eternally grateful!!) There have been a few times now that we (meaning me and a couple dental assistants) had to actually hold him down on the chair so that Jon can could give him the shot to numb his gums so he could yank out a few teeth. He cried and screamed! They had to make sure that no other kids were in the office before they started because of this. I really wanted to cry that time! I took him to Target after and bought him a toy, and me some chocolate cause we were traumatized! This was only a couple of months ago. Then a few weeks ago, Jon wanted to pull more teeth cause once again, he had teeth growing in and the baby teeth hadn't fallen out yet and his retainer wasn't fitting because of those same baby teeth. He was so scared to go because of the shot. But, Jon gave him a choice. Either he'd have the shot or Jon would just pull them out without it. So Ethan chose to Not have the shot! Jon yanked them out and Ethan hardly flinched!! I was so dang happy! Of course, I wasn't there. I figured after all I'd been through with dental appointments and shots, it was soooo Richard's turn to deal with this! And it ended up not even being a big thing. (Which means Richard isn't off the hook for the future!)
I seriously don't understand why his teeth are so weak. I didn't have cavaties until I got home from my mission and Richard has never had a cavaty! (So not fair) So, now we've tried to eliminate sodas and sugars. But, why why why is it so difficult to floss??!!! I'm not a fan of flossing, so it's hard to remember to floss my kids teeth. I feel like a terrible mom though when I forget. Cause I know a hole is making its way into one of his teeth as I type! Grrr...
It's sad whenever he smiles I can't help but look at his teeth and feel sick about it. He's such a cute and brave kid! Sigh.
