unfortunately

We survived another trip to the dentist this morning.

Miss Rose experiences great anxiety when dental work is required. 

Unfortunately, she needed a tooth extracted at the age of 2, which traumatized her.

Unfortunately, she has inherited soft teeth with deep grooves. 

And I learned today, that her teeth may be doomed before food ever gets stuck in their crevices.  She had a 6-yr old molar come in recently, that already had a hole in it.  The dentist gave me a name for it, which I can't remember and am too lazy to google right now. 

These are some unfortunate combinations.

At age 4 she had some dental work done and they chose to sedate her with Versed.   It was quite an experience because the medication made her pretty loopy and she was saying some funny stuff.  I was sad to have to see my girl like that though.  And even with that sedation, I had to restrain her some for the dentist.

Today, we decided to try nitrous oxide first.  I gather that not all 6-yr old need this.  However, my poor girl was in tears as soon as we hit the doorway of the exam room.  Part of me wants to tell her to snap out of it and buck up, but I know that she has legitimate anxiety.

It was borderline at first.  She bawled through the shots, even though the nitrous was on her and the dentist used numbing gel before he gave the shots.  But, she didn't move through it all.  In fact, I think the bawling helped.  I've never seen her mouth so wide open before.  It was hard to see her so affected.

While the novacain took effect, so did the nitrous.  By the time the dentist returned, she was calm enough for him to do all the work needed (2 sealants and 2 cavities).  We see a pediatric dentist, so she was able to watch a movie in the ceiling and listen with headphones which help drown out the dental tools.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid this won't be our last visit for cavities.  It seems that she's doomed.  We do the best we can, but even the dentist says for her, it's just inevitable.

Unfortunately, for Miss Rose, I renewed a passion to limit the candy my kids eat.  I've been lax lately.  Especially with all the holidays and birthdays in the past 5 months.  It's not like they eat inordinate amounts of candy, but they could certainly eat less. 

Some things, you just can't change.  You do the best you can.  But you can't control everything.  It's unfortunate, but it's life.  Life will never be perfect.  There's always going to be a challenge.  There's always going to be something that isn't fair. 

You might bawl a bit like Miss Rose, but there is always something else you can choose to focus on (like Kung Fu Panda playing in the ceiling).  But the pain is for a purpose, a greater good.  And afterwards, you may feel numb for a while.  Slowly, the memories fade, the pain recedes and predictability returns.

Unfortunately, that's just life.