Thursday, June 29, 2006

Say AHHH

I finally got Sophie to the dentist today. The news is not good. She has cavities. And cavities on top of those cavities. And other cavities having a kegger on top of those cavities. I was pretty sure the dentist was going to either give me a wedgie or call the authorities. But he didn't. I was a bit shocked at the diagnosis, even knowing about the gagillion bottles I let her have in bed, as I don't have a single filling in my mouth--never had a cavity. We had fluoride in the water, I guess. Her father's genes must be to blame.

Soph was pretty good. The x-rays were tricky, but they managed to get a picture of at least one side of her mouth. The side with an ass load of cavities. The dentist was, actually, a total champ with Soph, showing her all the stuff, letting her hold a mirror to watch, talking to her the whole time in her language, and keeping her calm. So--now we take her back to start the fillings. If all goes well, they'll just work on her teeth there. If not, we drive to St. George (the big city) where they'll knock her out and take care of them all in one fail swoop. What is a fail swoop? Mysterious. Soph was very impressed with the TV on the ceiling, the Disney princess flosser, and the new Incredibles toothbrush. But then again, she's pretty easy to impress.

Currently, Sophie and her pal Emily (a school friend. Who I LOVE because she is the oldest of 3 and is sweet and capable and actually said to me, "I love to share") are watching Strawberry Shortcake Berry Merry Christmas. Next on the agenda is a cherry picking excursion at the neighbor's house, which will be followed by fingernail painting.

Just another day. But all in all, a pretty good one--other than the cavities of course.

Today's best thing about being a mom:
Girly stuff--fingernail painting, summer dresses

Today's worst thing about being a mom:
Dentist disapproval

5 comments:

~A~ said...

You're such a good mom. Fingernail polish gives me the heebee jeebees. The girls beg and beg and plead to polish, but I run away screaming.

Can I send them to you for polish? I'm too afraid.

lonna said...

When I was a kid I had a ton of cavities, and I did everything right because I hated them. Now my teeth aren't so bad. My dentist said that after puberty my saliva changed and it was no longer destroying my teeth. Or something like that. I never minded the dentist much. Maybe it made feel like a big girl to be so strong. I don't know. It may not be so bad for Sophie. I also came by my problems through both of my parents.

You are so great about the polish. The rule in my house was that I could only use nail polish if my finger nails were a certain length, since I was a horrible nail biter until I was about 25. That means that I got to paint my nails about 3 times before high school.

Jen said...

I agree with Lonna. It might not be her fault. I have a friend with a little girl who had the same type of problem, just rampant cavities no matter what they did. It was just her mouth chemistry. Hopefully Sophie will grow out of it.

Katy said...

I don't know how you got out of the cavity curse. I think I have a cavity on just about every solid surface in my mouth. Maybe it just skipped a generation with you. Shouldn't they not worry too much about cavities in teeth that are just going to fall out in a couple years anyway?

rob said...

PedantiRob is on the way...

"One fell swoop" was first commited to known text by Shakespeare in MacBeth. Don't remember who said it, though. I drank that script away long ago. Anyhooters..."fell", in Elizabethan archaic, was something that was evil or bad. Even though the term brings to mind someone cutting something down (fell also means "something that is cut down") like someone reaping wheat with a sythe, fell didn't mean that until the 19th century.

So..."one fell swoop" is something that happens suddenly with negative impact.

PedantiRob is gonna sleep now.

PedantiRob...tired...