Wednesday, February 09, 2011

the "after" photo




well, he ended up being the champ i was hoping he'd be. what was supposed to be just a routine visit on friday to check on the tooth and meet the children's dentist we'd been referred to ended up being The Visit that he had been waiting for. the dentist was wonderful and she offered to fit us in for the extraction that same day. it was a good thing for me that i didn't have much time to think about it. while we waited, tristan was giddy with excitement, talking non-stop about the tooth fairy, his favorite movies, and how daddy could eat a giant pizza all by himself. when they called his name, he walked to the door by himself, turned to give me a brilliant smile, put his hand in the hygienist's hand and together they disappeared down the hallway.

i was so thankful that i had brought a book with me to read, otherwise i don't know what i would have done with myself for the next 20 minutes. the dentist came to get me when she was through and brought me to the room where he was still laying in the chair with an oxygen mask over his face to "rinse out" the effects of the laughing gas. he was so engrossed with the cartoon that was playing on a tv in the ceiling that he barely even glanced at me. she said that he was wonderful ~ he didn't even flinch, and that it wasn't a difficult extraction, so the pain should be minimal. they gave him all sorts of stickers and little toys along with his tooth in a small blue box to put under his pillow. he had gauze stuffed in his mouth to control the bleeding, so he couldn't talk to me until about 15 minutes later when we arrived at the mcdonald's drive thru window and i handed him an ice cream cone.

he said it didn't hurt at all, he said the laughing gas didn't make him feel like laughing, it made him feel like laying down, and he kept craning his neck to catch his reflection in the rear view mirror, smiling like crazy in order to admire the gap in his teeth. he never once complained of pain, even when the numbing wore off, though i got a little paranoid that evening and gave him motrin before bed "just in case." the next morning he came into our room at 5:30am, holding his little blue box, saying "guys! guys! the tooth fairy gotfor (forgot) to take my tooth box!" i sleepily told him to go in the bathroom, turn the light on and open the box. he did and both josh and i chuckled when we heard him softly exclaim, "WOOOOOW!" he got $1 from the tooth fairy ( i've heard the going rate is closer to $5, but i figure we've got a lot of years and a lot of loose teeth in our future, so we thought we'd stick with something we wouldn't go bankrupt over) and the next morning he went out with daddy and bought a donut with sprinkles on it.

he looks so much older with his tooth gone. WAY too old for my liking, but i have to admit that it is rather cute. he has a bit of a lisp now when he says his "s's" and he hasn't gotten tired of admiring his new smile in the mirror. yes, it happened 2 years too early, but at least he won't get his gargantuan permanent teeth in for awhile.

10 comments:

kelly ens said...

I am UBER impressed that he just walked in with the hygienist on his own! I've always sat with Taeya through her appointments (though it's a normal dentist, not a pediatric dentist).
his "gotfor" is so very cute! and $5 for a tooth is the going rate???? OH my goodness - i hope that's an american thing!
we have a friend whose 2 year old just got the same tooth pulled, so he'll have that gap for about 4ish years til he gets his adult teeth. :)

Miranda said...

5 bucks for teeth is crazy. I got a loonie for my teeth.

What a good boy, you are so lucky he loves the dentist.

Jessica LaTour said...

Way to go, Tristan. Have to say I'm a fan of the missing before it's time front tooth look ; )

And glad it all went well for your mama's sake, too!

Julie said...

Aww, this whole post was so sweet :o) He was super brave. Im glad it went well.

jessica said...

Tristan I am soooo proud of you! You are a stud! You get to spend Saturday with Kaylee and she is very excited. You, Samuel, and Kaylee can play outside the whole day, or bake with Gran. That will be so much fun. Well I love you bud and I will see you soon.
Love,
Auntie Sis

Neha said...

Such a brave boy, I must say! And love that smile...it's become more adorable!

Diana said...

Wow! Sounds like it went so well! Hunter was in a terrible accident when he was 18 months old, had to have surgery to remove two of his front teeth because they were so dead from the accident that they would never fall out on their own. he will most likely have more surgery down the road, but he doesn't know what it's like to have front teeth and I know we will think he looks so different when those permanent teeth come in. Crazy how similar our boys are.

Anneliese said...

Aw.. I love how you documented this experience... you would have forgotten all about it 20 years from now if you had not done so ... and missed special memory.

Anonymous said...

I loved your rendition of the story. As always, I feel like I am right there. I am so happy that it was such a positive experience for you both!

Christy (the one from the wet-coast) - it never lets me post, other than anonymous anymore.

Unknown said...

He is adorable! Our friends kids get $20 a tooth, crazy!! I'm with you, $1 is plenty.