...is worth a pound of cure.
Tomorrow morning I'm taking four of my children to the dentist to have a total of 11 cavities filled. That will bring them to 14 fillings in the space of three weeks. Most of those are due to not flossing, but we could also be better about taking flouride in this household.
I remember having flouride rinses in second grade. Our class would file into the hallway, and we would each be given a small cup of liquid to swish around and then spit into the drinking fountain. My parents were pretty good about keeping us supplied with flouride tablets, too. (I remember that mostly because I remember learning, after occasionally sticking a few purple tablets up my nose, that it was easier to snort it up and then down my throat than to fish it out. Kids those days.) As a result, I never had a cavity until I was pregnant with my fourth baby. The dentist told me at that point that it was pretty unavoidable because repeated pregnancies weaken teeth. Luckily, I've kept the total to two or three. Cavities, not babies.
Last week, #1 was pretty happy with herself for having clean x-rays. (I think it's because we've already filled all her teeth, and the rest have fallen out.) I guess it's nice that I'm not spending an extra $50 per filling on her. Instead, the dentist told me it's time to get her to an orthodontist. Well, now I know what to do with our tax refund!
4 comments:
Your parents were so conscientious (well, at least your mom)!
OH boy here we go with orthodontic work. But she needs it and will be glad in the end.
Yikes! That's a lot of fillings!
(for the record, I was always jealous of the kids who got to do the fluoride rinses in elementary. Then one year my mom signed me up and I realized it was actually gross tasting - grass is always greener...)
Update: It turns out that #5 didn't have five cavities. He had EIGHT. The dentist filled the four on the right side of his mouth, and by the time those were done, #5 was sleeping in the chair. The dentist told us to just come back next week for the other four fillings. That puts our grand total to 16 fillings for four people. The silver lining in all this is that the youngest of us found the dental office so relaxing that he doesn't mind going back again. After all, he is looking forward to the cheap plastic toy at the end. (Can I call a plastic toy cheap if it costs $400?)
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