Terrific Tooth Visit

Aka trip to the dentist. 

The dentist is one of Teddy's fears. There's a handful of things that absolutely terrify Teddy, most of which defy any logical explanation to our minds (arcades, high lifts, and electric wheelchairs to name a few). Then there's a few things that make absolute sense (the ER and dentist's office). 

I stopped taking Teddy to the dentist when he grew so large  that I could no longer physically restrain him and body hug him with my arms and legs to hold him in place for the quick exams. Any x-rays or dental work has to be under sedation, as we learned when he chipped his 2 front teeth the other year. Not the easy in office sedation because he simply rips off that laughing gas before it even starts. The full in-the-hospital, give him a shot of ketamine to even get him back to the room to get general anesthesia kind of sedation.

So, needless to say, trips to the dentist are a bit stressful. We switched to an office that specializes in kids with sensory issues and other challenges a couple years ago when we needed the sedation dentistry, and he's been making progress slowly but surely. 

His last dental visit was his best yet! He actually sat in the chair on his own (rather than being lifted into the chair), stayed in the room the entire time and did phenomenal for him. While Dave could tell he was agitated the entire time, this was such tremendous progress for him. 

Apparently it's a big problem if any more teeth fall out now.

It was also really neat for me to hear the report from Dave on the dentist visit. While you might not think of a good dentist visit as a point of pride, the excitement and pride in Dave's voice was palpable. It's pretty darn heartwarming to see that form of love for a child.

Next up - trying to make some progress with the eye doctor. While the examination chair itself looks intimidating with all the equipment, that's never once been used on Teddy. Nor has he had any of the puffs of air, dilation or anything that touches his eye. So I'd classify this as one of those inexplicable fears. But our eye doctor's office is great with Teddy, especially his actual doctor. 

So when I called to ask to move AJ's contact lens appointment to allow Teddy's therapist to accompany us and video him to create his own social story to practice, they were super understanding. We're all set to see how it goes with his therapist along, which will give her the opportunity to witness it in action. They're also going to set him up with a mini appointment with a technician to allow us to video him going back into the room and go through those initial steps for the social story. I'm super impressed with them, though not surprised based on our past experiences there (and the fact they've watched me physically restrain Teddy to keep him from running out of the building because he couldn't handle it anymore). 

Sedation Dentistry

If you recall, Teddy's first Monday without school this summer was a hit. Literally. As in he hit his face on a curb and chipped out his 2 front teeth. 

That resulted in a trip to our regular dentist, followed by another visit a month later when the swelling was gone to attempt to repair them with laughing gas. The idea that would work is downright laughable, so we ended up with a referral to a pediatric dentist who does sedation dentistry. That visit last month led to Teddy being scheduled for dental surgery today.

Dave will not let me change his name to Theodork.

Sedation dentistry is the only way we'll get this work done, and everyone seems to feel like it's the best way for him. Tell him that as we have to check in, go through all the questions and then try to get him to actually sit on the bed ... all while he is asking to leave and getting more and more agitated. The team asked if we could get him on the bed, which obviously we can because there's 2 of us and one of him, and we're still stronger. But I'm sure it was a bit comical because he acted like he was superglued into his chair and then proceeded to wriggle like the bed was electrified to get off it. So, yeah, that was not pleasant for any of us. 

That's when they realized he needs something different, which I thought I had already covered with them that he wasn't going to settle down until they started knocking him out. They asked about one of us going back with him because they thought that would be less traumatic than ketamine. False. It's far easier to give him one shot that forces his body to relax and allows us to settle him on the bed, so they can wheel him back and put him fully to sleep. 

Once we explained that, he got the shot and crawled back in his chair. Then I carried him to the bed, where he fought for one or two more minutes before the medicine hit his system, forcing him to relax. While it's unpleasant to see him like that, at the same time we know it causes the least trauma because we just need to get this over with as no amount of soothing is actually soothing to him.

So now he's back getting his front teeth capped, his back molars sealed, a thorough cleaning and x-rays done to make sure there's nothing else to address while he's snoozing. Then we'll see whether he's tired the rest of the day or whether he's back to his usual energy level of non-stop movement.

 And hopefully it's another 10 years before we need sedation dentistry again, though I know that's too much to dream.