Last Friday, my youngest (almost 3) had to have dental work done under general anesthesia. Surgery. My baby. This was a terrifying thing for me. I hated the idea of him being put under, taken away from me and waking up with a sore mouth. To top it all off, the reason for this procedure needing to be done was filling me with mommy guilt. When I was pregnant with my little man, I had shingles. Shingles are treated with anti-virals and anti-virals can cause developmental problems. As it turns out, I was taking them right about the time during development that the teeth and their enamel is forming. His enamel didn’t form right, making his teeth week from the get-go.

The morning of surgery went as well as we could have hoped. We had no meltdowns over his inability to eat or drink anything before we left for the hospital. He was excited about his special doctor. He loved playing with the mask and picking out his ‘flavor’ for the air he got to breath (chapstick rubbed inside the mask). He looked cute as a button in his little hospital jammies and loved playing with all of the toys in the waiting room.

Then it was time. We went with him into a small room where he sat on a bed and began breathing the air. Staying true to himself, he fought sleep. He laughed. He made silly faces and wouldn’t let the medicine take over. They turned it up and he finally succumbed to sleep. I began crying as they wheeled my baby off to surgery.

It was supposed to take 60 minutes, it took almost 90. This meant that they found bigger problems, or more problems and I had no idea what they were. Eventually, the doctor came to us and told us that they had found more to do than anticipated, but nothing major. He ended up with 8 capped teeth and 2 filled. His smile looks a little artificial, and his back teeth shine silver – but they are fixed and healthy now. And we’re hopeful this is the end of his dental issues.

When your kid has to have surgery, it’s scary. Minor or major, it fills you with an anxiety like no other. I’m thankful ours was just teeth and not for a major medical reason (my heart goes out to all of you who have had to deal with that….). But it’s over, and we’re glad.

Manda
Nibbles Skribbles

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Before (you can see the decay from the lack of enamel between the front two teeth on the left side. The right side is a shot of his new front 4 teeth.

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