Note the relaxed hand on the iPod

…to fill some more cavities, tra la la. Backtrack a bit: When we got Jon’s x-rays done for his upcoming orthodontics, the regular dentist informed us that Jon somehow managed to get FOUR cavities. 😯 So we booked two appointments this month to get them filled two at a time. (Guess I started a tradition last year: Somehow the holidays don’t seem complete for us unless there’s a big honkin’ dentist bill in January…)

We were dreading these appointments; we remember all too vividly Jon’s filling 1-1/2 years ago, which was a horrific experience and one we didn’t wish to repeat. The dentist seemed optimistic about being able to fill Jon’s tooth without needing gas or general anaesthesia; we were skeptical, but willing to try it once more (Jon being that much older).

As it turned out, Jon made it through the filling with flying colours. He wasn’t too pleased about parts (especially the needles, rubber dental dam, clamp to keep his mouth wide); but fortified with a tape of Dora on the dentist’s TV system, and good tunes on his iPod, he kept pretty still and calm. It wasn’t until the procedure was over that he started to cry—more because of frustration because his frozen mouth felt so peculiar.

Then the problem hit us: How were we to prevent Jon from chewing his frozen lip, cheek and tongue? Gauze stuffed in his cheek just got shoved out by his tongue. Ditto any other foreign objects. It was compulsive; he just couldn’t stop himself from doing this. We could see some blood already from his lip and we weren’t even home yet. The solution was for one or the other of us to put our finger in his mouth between his teeth (he wasn’t chewing hard; it was more sensory exploration). It worked very well against his tongue-pushing. However, it meant that we had to keep a finger in Jon’s mouth for over an hour!

Despite our precautions he did manage to get a bit of a swollen lip from chomping it a couple of times. But he’ll be just fine in a day or so, which is a damn sight better than the week it took him to recover 1-1/2 years ago.

Oh, and as for the second cavity we were supposed to get filled today? Turned out it was just a shadow on the x-ray from a chip off the tooth. Let’s hope next week’s cavities are as easy to deal with!