Baby Boy's Day at the Dentist

Yesterday was a little slice of hell for me. Baby Boy and his weak tooth enamel went to the new pediodontist. Why did Husband have to pass down all the icky stuff like that? Wasn't the eczema enough?

I tried taking him to our local dentist but since he's had fillings before, he knew just what she was going to do and wasn't buying what she was selling, if you catch my drift.

The receptionist made an appointment with the dentist's friend, a paediatric dentist in London. Never mind the hour-long drive to get there—it's the nine month waiting that I don't agree with. So I asked for someone else who handled, er, special cases.

This guy is in Kitchener (Go, Penguins, go! Really!) and saw us the next day. This was about two weeks ago. He was awesome and really got Baby Boy calmed down. The hygienist was a right beyotch, though. When walking him down the hall to the opertory, the kid was crying. I said some calming words and let him tug my necklace, which is a soothing habit he picked up when I used to breastfeed him. The buzzard snapped, "You think I've never heard this before? Just be quiet and sit still. I know what I'm doing."

So I sat in a corner of the opertory with my arms crossed and a shit-eating grin on as Baby Boy was giving her his best maniacal screaming and squirming. If it wasn't for the dentist to come in and was way more parental and gentle than the hygienist, I was ready to gouge out her heart with a spoon.

Of course, after the dentist left, I told her, "I'll be asking for another hygienist the next time because, though I don't doubt you've seen this behaviour a million times, YOU are not the one who he'll call for at 2 in the morning with dental nightmares. And, frankly, it appears to me that I would probably know better how to calm my son's fears than you would. After all, I've known him his whole life and you just met him 15 minutes ago." She tried to rebuttal, but I did something I rarely do: I held out my hand, turned my face and then my heels and walked away. She doesn't know how lucky she was.

Anyway, yesterday, new hygienist. Strangely, she looked like me, which worked in our favour. Baby Boy liked her right away. Mind you, we also had some practice runs at Husband's clinic and even went to the dentist's with vinyl gloves, a mask and a Dixie Cup for laughing gas play. We practiced on teddy bears in the waiting room with Baby Boy improvising with Lego for dental tools.

His permanent teeth better come in gorgeous.