Orthodontic Update

Shane and I drove into town on Tuesday for an orthodontic checkup. 

We tried to go two weeks ago. However, Shane developed a headache in the car. He started to cry and, while I didn't think it was anything serious, I decided it'd be better to reschedule. I pulled over at Monticello HS to call the office. Shane was fine within a couple hours of being home....go figure.

Today we made it without any drama. Shane's fine with wearing a mask, but he doesn't quite get why he can't touch everything he sees! An assistant took him for x-rays and he came back acting highly goofy.

I'm pretty sure the x-rays didn't affect his brain. Goofy is normal for Shane.

The orthodontist showed up and she was thrilled with what the x-rays showed.

This is the before picture.

It was a little over a year ago the orthodontist recommended for Shane to have a bunch of teeth pulled. She was worried that there was too much crowding, his permanent canines were out of place, and he would have impaction problems.

We decided to follow her recommendations. Shane had four teeth pulled May 2019.

The x-ray today showed there was still some crowding, but the canines re-positioned themselves nicely. "Thank you so much for listening to me," she said (Was she not used to people doing so? Or was that just her way of being polite?)

I didn't realize I caught her finger in the picture or I'd have taken another one. You can see Shane's 10 year molars have progressed.

It was a long drive for a quick visit. We were worried about pulling all the teeth, so it was great to see evidence it worked as we hoped.

Shane's still going to need orthodontic help in the future, but it'd be nice to avoid as much as we can.

To make the drive more worthwhile, I stopped by Lowe's afterward.

That's part of a future story, though.

Pandemic Dentist Visit

Pandemic or not, summer is a time to take care of appointments. Shane had a 12:00 PM dentist appointment.

It's not like we could just walk right in, though. Times have changed.

I pulled up to the dentist, turned off the car, and called to say we'd arrived.

It was hot.

Really hot.

In retrospect, I wouldn't have turned off the car if I'd known it would take them so long to walk out (I was trying to save the environment!). Shane started to complain he was melting and I was probably saying, "Suck it up, buttercup" when the hygienist came out wearing head-to-toe, bio-hazard gear.

The woman in the hazmat suit pulled out a thermometer gun and pointed it at my forehead. "Your temperature is too high to come in."

I had to turn the AC back on. We sat around another 5 minutes. We passed the second try (The studying helped). I asked the nurse what my temperature had been the first time she came out. "102." It turns out sitting in a hot car makes you hot.

The office looked different on the inside. The toys were gone. The chairs were few. There was a little sign noting, "You're on camera."

The biggest change for Shane was his mask. This was the first time he had to wear it.

He's a fan of fiddling with it, at least. Keeping it in place is a little harder, but he did okay.

The hygienist had Shane gargle with mouthwash while she donned a plastic shield (with a kitty-cat nose!).

Other than being in a near empty office with bio-hazard clad personnel in a closed-door side suite while wearing a mask it was a standard dental visit.

No x-rays and no cavities. Or if there were, they didn't think they merited the extra look at germs.

The one new bit was Shane was prescribed fluoride chews. We're on a well and not city water now. It never occurred to me that our water was no longer fluoride treated. Maybe I'll need something myself?

It was a long enough drive into town, so Carrie had me stop at Southern States and Tractor Supply on the way home. I want to say 90% of the people I see in town wear masks. There was a woman and her two teenage kids without in the Tractor Supply line and it struck me as interesting that I noticed who wasn't wearing a mask as much as those who were. A year ago the reverse would have been true.

Shane has an orthodontist appointment later this month. I'll know to keep the AC on until we get scanned this time! I probably need to reschedule whatever appointments for me got cancelled at some point, too.

Dentist Day

1:40 PM - I got a reminder text about a dentist appointment I didn't know about.

Or at least I sort of knew about. I'd rescheduled Shane's appointment, but the office never sent a confirmation or a reminder. I checked through my logs yesterday and thought, "I should call them after work."

They beat me to it.

I had to miss wrestling, but I was able to get Shane to his 4:15 PM appointment on the minute.

He got his teeth xrayed and cleaned quickly enough I thought I might be able to swing by practice with him.

The dentist stopped at another patient's chair to check in first and it sounded like she was planning to pay off her entire school debt from one mouth.

Not that Shane was paying any attention. See him over there?

His eyes were on a TV! 

This children's dentistry knows kids. Shane was zombified while I people watched.

Shane was happy to show his new watch off to the hygenist while the dentist looked through his records. No cavities! His teeth are starting to come in better since we had the baby teeth pulled, but there still look to be braces in his future.

I'd given up all hope of making it to wrestling by the time we walked out, so we swung by Costco for gas, groceries, and a cheap pizza to bring home. Traffic stunk, but we had Redwall to listen to (though the library is probably going to send mean messages to return it soon!).

Two more days of school until break!

Dentist Day

Kid dental x-rays look freaky cool.

Early May, the orthodontist thought that it was freaky how Shane's incisors were pointed inwards and positioned to push in under his adult incisors. She recommended we remove some of his baby teeth to fix the problem before there were worse problems in the future.

The dentist happened to walk over from next door to visit and the orthodontist showed her the x-rays. They agreed extractions were the best course of action and the dentist asked me about Shane's fillings. "How did he handle those? Fillings are worse than extractions on kids."

"He did fine thanks to 'tablet hypnosis.'"

I think I coined a new term from their reactions.

I scheduled the first appointment I could to make sure Shane got looked at before I lost my insurance between jobs (Which, by the way, only paid for 2.33 teeth and the rest was out of pocket). 

Today was it.

It certainly looked like Shane was having a good day when I picked him up. He let me know he was the Jackrabbit of the Week!

He seemed happy, hearty, hale, and happy to get out of school early! He was looking forward to playing a MineCraft knock-off.

Shane asked to ride with Mom to the dentist. We had to take two cars, because she had a 3:00 PM appointment with County HR about being a substitute teacher. Carrie let me know something was up when we got to the dentist (more on that tomorrow).

Tablet hypnosis did the trick again. I watched the doctor stick Shane in the mouth with a needle all over while he tried to tell her what he was doing while her hand was still in his mouth. She'd already stuck him multiple times before he even asked, "Is that a shot?"

She answered him, but I think he was more concerned that her hand was obscuring his view of the game.

Proof a tablet can turn my kid into a drooling idiot.

The extractions went without a hitch. Carrie flinched seeing them come out. The roots were still fully formed and the teeth were much larger than we expected.

Shane played on, undisturbed. The only thing that bothered him were the gauze pads they made him bite on after they were done!

Shane and I went buy Tropical Smoothie Cafe afterward. He couldn't use a straw, so I got him a spoon.

It turned out to be a much messier affair driving home than I expected. I was proud of Shane for how well everything went, so I told him not to worry about it!

We showed him the teeth when we got home.

Neat stuff. It looks like it should have been so much more painful than it was.

Shane's going to have a chipmunk smile for a while! The dentist warned us right before they started that Shane's canines were probably a couple of years away from coming in! And that's if they come in at all!

At that point, we were already there and planning on doing it, so we did it. It was still a bit of a, "Huh" moment.

Don't worry about Shane feeling off. He started poking me and I chased him around the kitchen. We got in trouble when he tripped over the stool and banged it into the fridge for a small dent.

"You shouldn't have chased me, Dad!"

"You should've known how to not bump into things!"

Yeah. Shane acted like nothing much had happened. We didn't even give him any pain meds.

Just a day in the life!

School Cancelled

An internet threat cancelled school. Someone threatened to do an ethnic cleansing at the city high school and gave the date. The authorities are involved and I pray they figure this out, so that we're not cancelled indefinitely.

The dentists did not cancel.

Carrie took Shane to his cleaning at 8 AM. I drove the opposite way to mine at 8:50 AM.

It was a quiet, weird day. Shane and I got haircuts, I got my allergy shot, and did I mention we went live? The house officially up for sale. Carrie hoped that if we went online by 4 PM today it would give people time to see it and make appointments for the weekend.

Laughing Gas or I-Pad?

Was it really half a year ago Shane had his first cavity filled?  I've been meaning to take him back to the dentist, but with wrestling, work, and moving it got lost in the shuffle.

Until now.

Mommy and Shane learned a valuable lesson last time: Shane prefers electronics to anesthetics. He asked right away if he could have a tablet.

And right away, I said, "Yes."

When the doctor asked if we wanted laughing gas, I said we had Minecraft.

Then she remembered, too.

It went really well. Shane had a "curious tongue," but he stayed calm when he couldn't see the tablet. The assistant went through and applied some sealants when the dentist had to deal with something else. The only struggle was on the second novacaine shot to numb him before the fun began.

"I've got a special toothbrush to clean your teeth," the dentist told Shane. "No drilling today!"

Which confused me. "Wait...are we....?" I started to ask.

"It's a special brush," the dentist replied and I clued in.

They went through all the preparations and I thought "it's so obvious!" Only Shane never realized what was going on. I managed to stay in my seat the whole time! I threw out some nonchalant encouragement from time to time and tried to hide how excited I was that it was going well.

There were a few close calls where Shane almost clocked the dentist with the tablet trying to look at it, but he did a good job and she typed the password back in for him when it was all over.

I couldn't believe it. Shane didn't even realize what happened. I'm not going to tell him until he's much older either!

I let Shane play on the iPad for a while in the waiting room after. It kept us out of the house. Then we went to Tropical Smoothie Cafe and Lowe's before returning home.

Tooth Troubles

I've developed a sensitive tooth. I had a filling put in at the end of August and that's where the problem is. It hurts to eat or drink anything cold.

On top of that, it hurts to floss now. A hygienist once told me that if it hurts or bleeds when I floss it's a time to floss some more.

I took that too far. I've been trying to floss the pain away and my gums have rebelled.

I decided to go to a new dentist. I don't know how much the toothache and x-ray bill from my old dentist were bad timing/coincidence and how much was a sign it was time to move on. The new dentist is a short drive and next to Shane's local preschool. There's only a single stoplight en route!

Unfortunately, my pain stumped the new dentist. From the x-rays she thought it would be one filling, but it was the other tooth that bothered me. She said the fillings looked good and the roots looked good, so the best option was to floss less, use fluoride, toothpaste for sensitive teeth, and wait to see if it got better.

I was happy I didn't need an expensive procedure, but sad there wasn't a way to put my tooth back to normal.

At that point, I called it a day. I set up my next cleaning with the new dentist, so we'll see if my sensitivity ever fades.

Ortho Check-Up

7:30 AM orthodontist checkpoints are the way we roll. Since, they're free consults, we can get in and out early enough I'm not late for work.

Today was a 6 month check. She'd recommended the frenectomy before and was examining to see if Shane needed a retainer.

So far, so good.

The orthodontist did notice Shane had a good sized and unpleasant looking canker sore from where he got his cavity filled last week. I took a look at it later. That led me to cancel our next dentist appointment for Shane on Thursday until his mouth heals a little more.

Shane's First Cavity Filling

Carrie took Shane to the dentist for his filling. She sent me a picture while I was at work.

The nose-piece was for nitrous oxide, but was a resounding failure. Shane didn't like it and kept pushing it off and fidgeting.

The tablet was a rousing success. Shane would have let them drill for another hour if he could have stayed on it.

Carrie helped keep him distracted by rubbing his hand while they drilled and the filling was accomplished.

I took Shane to get some yogurt and go to the library after I got home.

Cavity Calamity

I got to spend my morning getting a pair of cavities filled. Then I got to spend my afternoon at the dentist with Shane. Carrie picked him up and brought him to my school to make the timing work out smoothly.

Shane got a hold of the controls and maxed out the chair height when given a chance.

He was overly playful while the technician cleaned his teeth. Shane wouldn't open his mouth after closing it for the saliva ejector. He'd just smile and hold on.

101 Dalmations helped Shane wait for the dentist. The cleaning and xrays went fairly quick, but it took a bit for her to work her way down the line to us.

I bet she didn't see this coming!

The bad news: Shane's got two cavities we need to act on. They're on his baby teeth adjacent to the molars. The dentist said they were tracking them from last time to see if they'd grow enough to be problems that needed to be dealt with. Shane needs to do a better job brushing and he should start flossing.

The good news: That's why I pay for dental insurance. It's optional, but I wanted to have it if we needed it.

We'll go back in a couple of weeks to get the first cavity filled. Depending on how Shane handles it, we may fill the smaller, second cavity or we may try an alternative treatment.

Social Summer Checklisting

With VBS over and company gone, it was time to get back to the checklist Monday. I took Shane for a child wellness checkup at 10 AM.

He's 49.25 inches tall and 53 lbs. That puts him solidly in the 40 to 50 percentile range for height, weight, and body mass index (BMI). He's a solid kid and healthy kid if a long way slowed down from topping the charts as a baby.

I'm big on reminding Shane to bring things to entertain himself with when we go places. He must figure he's fine as long as he has me! I usually end up bringing stuff even after he picks up a book, gets distracted, and then puts it down before we go.

Shane likes to draw, but he never draws quietly. He narrates the whole process. He switched from talking to me to the doctor when she came in. There were volcanoes.

Shane eventually stopped talking long enough for the doctor to check him out. He got a full bill of health and no shots were due.

We tagged base at home and went to the dentist at 12:30 PM. He loves one toy in particular they have.

His gums were healing nicely from the frenectomy. It took all of a minute for them to clear him. The therapy dog was new. They dental technician acted like it wasn't, but she's at the office daily instead of several times a year.

We were all set to go home, but Shane wanted to stay and play with the office toys some. We didn't have anywhere to be and he was self-entertaining, so why not? I sat down and he went to play.

There was another family in the waiting room. I noticed they way they dressed and presumed it was based on their beliefs. I was happy when Shane started to make his way over and be friendly.

I figured they were waiting for an appointment and hoped Shane offering to play would be a blessing for both parties.

Shane eventually introduced himself to the mother and made some conversation. It looked like she was reading and possibly texting on her phone, so I moved 'Amish?' down on my internal observation list.

I offered a comment or two, but didn't get the feeling the mother wanted to converse.

So, I let the kids playing do the talking.

I did find it curious that the girl tended to fade the more Shane played. She stuck to the outside and at one point I heard her mom remind her to keep quieter. Perhaps there was a rule about talking to males outside the family? I'll have to look some of that up later out of curiosity.

I wish that Shane hadn't made the animals start fighting each other at one point or saying a scorpion stinger could kill you. He got a bit hyper and into it a few times. The boy seemed interested in the farm toys.

I was able to make some polite conversation after the kids played for an hour. They'd come in to town for a morning appointment and then decided to wait around a couple of hours rather than leave and come back. A movie came on, The Flintstones, and the kids all started to zone into it, so I decided it was time to head out with Shane. We'd already hung out and played over an hour!

Plus, we had a friend to meet later.

I'd offered to take Shane and Sam to the library in the afternoon. I wanted to pick up some audiobooks for our upcoming road trips.

One of my goals this summer was to build connections, so what better way to accomplish two things than by inviting a friend?

The boys talked Plants vs Zombies like men obsessed. Sam mentioned the game to Shane the other week. I'd happened to buy the game for a $1 on a steam sale and let Shane play it after they talked. They discussed plants, zombies, strategy, and Plant vs Zombies comics all the way to the library and once in it. They looked up the books together on the computer system.

Then they ran to find the Plants vs Zombie books and read them. I put a Sonic comic on the ground to grab Shane's attention. "Don't you each want to read a book?" I asked.

Nope.

I hadn't planned a long stay, but the boys were happy reading on the floor. Then the skies started to pour.

I was able to browse around without any trouble. The boys hung together.

Other than one short wrestling break it was library appropriate!

It was the longest Shane and I have ever stayed in a library just to read.

I nearly laughed when the boys laid down in front of the children's librarian to read. The library was nearly empty or it might have caused a problem! I was half-annoyed they'd lay in the middle of the main walkway, but the librarians didn't say anything. The boys were engrossed in their books and it was hilarious, so I let it stand.

Positive peer pressure for a couple of fun hours reading at the library!

I let the boys have some Plants vs Zombies when we got home.

I told Shane to make sure he let Sam have a turn, but Sam insisted he wanted to watch; Not play. That suited Shane.

The boys did awesome together. The only bump in the road was when Sam's mom came to pick him up. Sam did not want to be pried away from Shane and the computer! He argued some with his mom, but that wasn't a big deal.

It was a bigger deal when Sam broke our house's cardinal rule: He stomped on the floor during Nova's sleep period. It was on the way out to show his displeasure, but Carrie won't allow that in the house if he wants to visit during the day!

Around 6:20 PM Shane started to act odd. He started complaining his head hurt and that he was hungry. I gave him a hard time about waiting nicely and needing to not zombie himself and neglect his needs when a computer was on. However, he kept complaining. There was no fever and after I'd given him enough of a hard time, I picked him up and sat down on the couch with him.

Shane fell asleep against me before 7 PM. He woke up for a little bit to transfer to Carrie. I got him some acetaminophen and he went back to sleep. Shane was in his room and down for the night by 7:30 PM! He slept the whole night, too! The stink must have been way-overtired from a full day following a weekend of visitors and electronics.

Spoiler alert: Shane felt better after sleeping 12 hours the next day.