The Dentist

Unfortunately, even with my near obsessive care of Emma's teeth, I still managed to fail at preventing her from having to make the unpleasant trip to the dentist for some fillings.  I feel like I have failed as a mom, especially because I have always made her teeth such a priority to avoid having to go through all I've had to with my own teeth.  The dentist reassured me by explaining that genetics play a pretty large role in our oral health, so hopefully her permanent teeth will be more like Trenton's.

The trickiest part of this whole process has been my almost unbearable fear of the dentist. It is so important to me that I not pass on my own phobias and other issues along to my kids, but all I wanted to do was run away as fast as I could as soon as I stepped into the dentist's office and smelled that dental office scent.  (Do they ALL have to smell so terrifying?)  Anyway- I worked very hard to mask my trembling hands and nausea and be a support to my very brave four year old.  Emma truly was brave.  She whimpered a little bit when they gave her the shots to numb her, and cried near the end of the appointment because she was getting fed up with the mouth prop.  But considering that she didn't have nitrous-oxide, she was amazing! 

The pediatric dentists are wonderful too.  I often think that if my childhood experiences with the dentist were this positive my fear would be mild, or maybe nonexistent. Even with the scary, pointy, grinding tools- she didn't squirm.  She did insist on holding my hand, and I caught her little legs nervously shaking, but she followed all their directions without complaining.  Here she is with a very numb mouth.  She thought it was so silly that only half her mouth would raise when she smiled.  That just proves the difference between the two of us.  She found the numb feeling to be sort of fun.  I always felt terrified by it.  Even when I was Emma's age I had this overwhelming fear that my face would be forever paralyzed, and I'd smack my face the entire drive home to help my body metabolize the medicine quicker.

Emma is my hero.  In so many ways she is a wiser, braver soul than I'll ever be.  I'm so relieved by that.  On our drive home when I was praising her for how well she did, she quietly said, "Well- I was scared."  And I assured her that there will be many times in her life that she'll be scared.  It's the fact that she was strong enough to go through with it that counts.  I'm so proud of her.  And I love her very, very much.