My Poor Baby

I think it's safe to say that the mommy guilt is very strong right now.  A few nights ago my daughter complained that one of her teeth was bothering her.  "The same one from a while ago," as she said.  Last time I told her to floss that area well and she said got something out and that she felt better.

This time, I decided to do the flossing so I could see what was going on.  It was between her back top teeth so it was not easy to reach much less see, so after getting a popcorn kernel out I had her lie down on the couch so I could see the area better.  I noticed that part of her tooth looked funny so I brushed the area a bit more and found that it looks like her tooth formed strange and I think that has created a pocket area where she now has a cavity.

This is very surprising to me because she has my husband's teeth.  You see, he can (and in fact did) go without seeing a dentist for 5 years and have the dentist tell him that his teeth are perfect.  In fact, the dentist pretty much called him a liar when my husband said he hasn't been to the dentist since he'd seen him 5 years prior. 

There are a couple difference between them though.  1. My husband is a religious flosser.  I'm pretty sure my daughter isn't (but she's going to be) and 2. My daughter still doesn't use florinated toothpaste.  You see, neither of my kids are good at spitting (my son in particular) so rather than have them swallow florinated toothpaste I've opted to use non-florinated toothpaste.  Needless to say the spitting practice has commenced in our house because this needs to change.  Yesterday!

Not only was I able to get my daughter a cleaning appointment for next week (the required precursor to getting the tooth fixed), I am planning on attending a pediatric dentistry talk given by our new dentist tomorrow night.  I'm hoping it will give me some insights on how best to deal with my kids dental issues.

More than that, right now I'm just praying that what they have to do isn't very invasive.  My hubby had a tooth pulled when he was a kid (to make room for his adult teeth) and it is a traumatic experience he still remembers with horror to this day.  I just pray she doesn't have one of those experiences (especially since her brother is already paranoid of the dentist too). 

It's bad enough that I didn't catch this sooner.   I'm not sure I can handle the guilt if she has a really bad experience too.