Cameron's Dental Surgery

For those of you who know our family well, you know of our pediatric dental woes. We floss, we brush, alas it seems to no avail! Of course, if we neglected the flossing and brushing and swishing....our situation would probably be a lot worse, but I really hate it when they start asking at the dentist office if my children live off of fruit snacks and go to bed with bottles of juice or soda pop!
Unfortunately, it is true that many, if not most, pediatric dental patients are usually in lower socioeconomic situations, so when you find yourself in that situation the automatic assumption is that it is probably due to poor dental hygiene, and a lack of knowledge of correct and healthy eating/bottling methods. Anyway, I got to go down that lane of roses just recently again with Cameron.
When his eye teeth came in, they already had enamel deformation on them, so I knew that we would have to watch carefully. Anyway, one of those eye teeth started to decay and so sigh, I had to take him in. Thank goodness after some very frustrating moments with one "pediatric" dental office, (by the way the pediatric dentist isn't covered by your insurance, even though we say that we have a pediatric dentist that is on the insurance website!) I called around and found a pediatric dental office on our insurance (he really was!) and decided to give them a try. They were fantastic and for the first time, after the dentist and I talked about Cameron, and he asked if I had a dental background (no, and yes, thanks to my children!) he told me that Cameron definitely had enamel deficiencies that were unfortunately genetic. Finally! I was not the irresponsible mother! Anyway, the office was fantastic. They got the sedation approved through my medical insurance and so last week we made our trek to the surgery center to get it done.
As a side note, I have to say that the surgery center was fantastic. It's one of those market driven approaches and it was ten times better than the same day surgery center at the hospital when Jeffrey had to have extensive work done. We were called the day before and told that gasp, we had to be there at 5 am. Actually, that was a blessing in disguise because Cameron was soundly asleep and stayed that way until we were taken back. We were able to dress him in his gown and then we waited in a little waiting room where we met the nurse that would be attending, the anesthesiologist, and the dentist. Then we carried him down the hall, where we made a quick switch off near the door. At that moment he started to cry, but he probably didn't cry more than a minute before they knocked him out with a mask. We waited for about an hour, and the nurse came to get us as soon as he started to stir. (Jeffrey cried for we don't know how long, before they came to get us. He was fully awake and sitting up in the bed.) With Cameron, we were able to hold him as he came out of it and then he just went to sleep for a while. There was no emotional trauma at all and thanks to the amnesia effect that the anesthesia has, he probably doesn't remember the hand off right before the procedure. The dentist told us that when he sees kids with the same kind of enamel that Cameron has, he has to do extensive crowning, but that the cavities that he had were not very deep (still, there were 8) and that he only had to crown two teeth to try to prevent decay occurring over and over again on the same teeth. Coincidentally, or not, Brianna finally had to have those same teeth crowned after filling after filling on those same teeth. He told us that we were doing a great job. Ah, it was so nice to hear! I usually feel like a bad mother after dental visits!
Anyway, we got Cameron home after buying him a toy car and getting a free balloon at Macey's and he took a nice long nap. He woke up in Curtis' words "as a happy drunk". It was kind of funny to watch, actually.
Thanks to a wonderful surgery center we have no trauma on Cameron's part from the experience and thanks to a dentist who realizes Cameron's root issues, we don't have any trauma or guilt. Of course that doesn't mean that we will stop brushing...and flossing....and swishing!
On a positive note, our older children do have wonderful dental hygiene habits!

I saw a friend in Costco, who told me that I really needed to get on the ball and update my blog....so I thought for those of you who don't see me on a regular basis might not know that we are expecting #5! Frankly, I wasn't sure that I was ready, so Heavenly Father decided to give me a little stronger revelation about adding this little one to our family. We are having another girl and what is funny is that Curtis basically knew from the onset that it would be a girl. Even before the ultrasound, he was pretty sure of that fact. He says it was like his mission. People would ask where he wanted to go, and of course in the early 90's Russia was the cool place to go on a mission, since the iron curtain had just fallen. He would tell them, "I'd like to go to Russia, but I really think that I'll be going to the southern United States." Anyway, it was no surprise for him when he was called to Columbia, South Carolina. So, when we had the ultrasound and it was time for the revelation, Curtis goes, yep, it's a girl, just like I thought. I thought it was most likely going to be a girl as well, but wasn't as sure of the fact as Curtis.
After the ultrasound, we went to Los Hermanos in Lindon with the kids. As we were finishing up, they came and seated Curtis' uncle and aunt Merv and Devonna Arnold. We haven't seen them much because they have been on church assignment to Brazil for the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy, but he was just called to the 1st Quorum and they are in Salt Lake for the time being. It was a pretty small world to run into them there!
Anyway, all of this is a bit belated. We are about five weeks away from D-Day at this point. We'll see when she decides to come. My sister Elizabeth and future brother in law Wil, were kind enough to set their wedding date for mid-May. They also have bets based on last babies' arrivals on the day that she will make her debut. The closest day wins ice cream!