Wonders of Modern Pediatric Dentistry

So last Thursday, Maeve told me her tooth hurt. I didn't think too much of it, since just a minute later she was telling me it didn't hurt. But later that night, Daddy saw a big brown spot on her tooth, and we knew we were in trouble. Unfortunately, Maeve's pediatric dentist was closed that Friday, so we had to wait until yesterday to get her seen.

I was so stressed about the whole situation, I spent two days with my stomach in knots. I felt terrible that I had caused this cavity, both through my genetic gift of weak enamel and because I'm in charge of tooth brushing time for Maeve.

And the overwhelming guilt of having had bad teeth myself has always made me feel like there's something really wrong with me, which I absolutely do NOT want to pass on to Maeve. I want her to understand that even if she has lots of cavities as a kid, it is more than likely not at all her fault, and that it's simply a problem to have taken care of, not a moral judgement on her character.

Luckily, her marvelous dentist is very good at explaining these things to the kiddos. Maeve was sort of desperate to hear that what happened wasn't a cavity, and her dentist told her it was likely a malformation of her molars at birth, and wasn't her fault at all. Maeve made off with three goodies from the goody basket, and a feeling of gratitude for her wonderful, kind dentist. And so did I - felt gratitude, I mean. They didn't give me any rewards from the goodie basket.

So Maeve will have her tooth fixed in two weeks, once she gets over her cold, since we're going to do oral sedation. I'll get back to you and let you know how that goes, but for now I'm just relieved to know what's going on, and that it's totally fixable.