My day at the dentist

Last week, Maggie & I went to the dentist. Enough said, right?! Well, it seems like nothing ever easy happens and this would again be true for our adventures with the new dentist. I was excited when I found a dentist that would take both our private insurance as well as Maggie's. Kinda like hit it all at once. I was even more thrilled when I was able to get us both an appointment on the same day.

Now, Maggie had already had her checkup but needed to have some work done, which required sedation and her previous dentist didn't do that on kids so young. So, I found one who could.

When I was scheduling the appointments, I explained the situation, the lady was super nice and said that Maggie wouldn't need another exam - just have the records sent over and they'll do the work on the first visit. Score! She said that they would give her something to drink to sedate her, to not let her eat/drink after midnight (yikes!) and we'd see them at 9am. I knew that would be challenging but we could do it. In the meantime, they were also going to do my 6 month exam (now WAY past due!) while she was being worked on. I explained to the nice lady that this would probably not work well, but she insisted and said it was not going to be a problem. That should've been my clue there.

Maggie woke up the morning of the procedure at 1am...that's right...1am. And NEVER.WENT.BACK.TO.SLEEP. Ahem.

Can you hear me when I say MISERABLE?! on all parts...and mainly because my sleep deprived child was starving and dying or thirst and this poor momma was so horrible in not giving her anything. (poor thing - she didn't understand the need to fasting). We eventually made it through to the time to leave for the appointment, arriving there, paperwork was already filled out online (gotta love modern technology!) and then they bring out the scale to weigh Maggie. Oh great! Now, is that really something anyone fears when they are small?! (Granted I avoid the scale like the plague, I'm just sayin') but my dear sweet child is terrified of scales (and she doesn't even know what they are?!) So, she had a major meltdown...and I'm sure it didn't help that she hadn't slept, or had anything to eat or drink since the night before.

While trying to console my daughter, the nice lady behind the counter wanted to know how I thought we should handle the 2 appointments. I thought - seriously? Isn't that your job? She didn't see how it would be possible to accomodate us both. Really? You don't say. So, I said, well, then, let's get Maggie's stuff done since she's fasting. However, another lady came from out of nowhere and said, well, I don't think she's ready for sedation. She's quite active and seems very anxious about being here. Maybe we should just have you do your exam, she can watch you and then the next time you come in, she'll be more prepared.

Ok....first of all, she's 3. Period. Second of all, give her the sedation and she won't be active. Thirdly, this was your bright idea. Fourth, she's been to the dentist 5 other times without any issues and actually gets excited to have her teeth worked on. I explained this to them and they looked at me as if I were crazy. Fifth, how in the heck do you think you're going to actually get my exam done with this "active/anxious" child in the room with me. So, it was now my responsibility to get my dental exam done with my never sit still, starving, won't stop touching everything precious 3 year old daughter. Needless to say, Momma WAS NOT HAPPY. And when Momma ain't happy....

2 hours later....yep....2 hours later....

We were finished and I walked out of there totally frustrated and exhausted. Of course, it would be nice to say that everything came out great in my exam and I don't need any work done, but that would be the understatement of the day!

The dentist was super nice, was great with Maggie and looked at her teeth (yes, she cooperated very nicely, thank you very much!) and unfortunately she needs to have even more work done that previously thought. Her work will require 3 more visits, all under sedation. Oh how I am so not looking forward to this...but hopefully the next visit will be better!