Silver tooth

Mason told me a couple of weeks ago that his tooth was bothering him. We have known for a while that he had a cavity, but about 5 months ago when they tried to put a temporary filling over the tooth, Mason gagged so much that they couldn't do it. They said they would try again at his next appointment 6 months later, or to call if the tooth started to hurt him. It has not been hurting him at all until now. So, I made an appointment for him to be seen again. We found out the cavity had gotten bad enough that his nerve was exposed and was painful -- and it was infected now and needed to be treated right away. We were told they wanted to put him under anestetia with an IV to give him a "baby route canal" and a crown.

This was very concerning to us all. I was nervous about putting him under, but I knew we had to get his tooth fixed. The dentist was able to see him the next week, but we had to get him worked into the anestetia schedule that was already booked. He would be the last patient of the day at 2:00 p.m. He could not eat after 8 a.m., so by about 12-1 p.m. he was cranky and asking for food. I tried to just distract him the best I could until time to leave. Once we were at the dental office, he forgot about eating and got busy playing in the waiting room.

When it was time, Brian and I were called back with Mason. Mason sat in my lap Dr. B (the anestetiologist) had asked Mason to distract him toward the right side. Dr. B gave him a shot in his left arm that in probably less than 2 minutes made him non responsive but awake. We had been fully briefed that this is what was supposed to happen. Once he no longer responded to anyone, Dr. B carried him away. Back in the room without us, they put in the IV for the anestetia. Then the dentist, Dr. G was able perform the procedures. We waited in the waiting room. About 20-25 minutes later on of the assistance came to let me know they were finished and all went well. It would take them a little bit to start to wake him up. Dr. G came to show us the Xrays and explained that we might be glad to know that he believed this was not from poor brushing or negligence. He showed us how he could tell that the tooth probably never fully formed and was more suseptible to decay. This did make me feel a little better. As a mother, I often feel guilty about things if I think I could have prevented them. After speaking with Dr. G I was taken into the room where they were trying to wake Mason. Seeing your child wake up from anestetia like that is a very strange experience. On one hand I wanted to cry and look away, but the Mother adrenaline starts pumping and you do what you need to do. I started trying to talk to Mason, asking him questions. He could not see or speak normally. He was extremely hard to understand at this point. I could tell he was asking me to hold him so I asked if it was okay to pick him up and hold him in my lap. They said that was fine but I had to be very careful to hold his head as he had no control, like a newborn in a 5 year old body. He kept repeating something and I finally figured out he was saying he was feeling "STRANGE" and this was upsetting to him. I explained to him that he would soon start feeling more like himself. I carried him to the car and had to sit right next to him to hold his head. In the car he was looking out the window and he started to cry. He was upset that he couldn't see right and talk right and he thought that he would never be the same. This was really sad, but I knew soon he would be feeling better. As a couple hours passed his vision and speech were much improved, but he still couldn't walk on his own. I thought for sure he would come home and take a nap, but he never did. We watched "High School Musical" together on the couch. By bed time, he and Maya were running around like nothing ever happened. By the next day, everyone he saw was asked "wanna see my new silver tooth?"

I was so glad it was over with and all came out okay. He is all better now!