To the Dentist We Go

I failed to report our little mishap the Friday of Fourth of July weekend in my most recent post, so now that I have a couple of pictures and the full story, I'm all set. Please bear with me as I give lots of detail to the "set up" of this story.

Since our Fourth of July trip was a little impromptu, I had quite a few errands to run on Friday morning before I went to the gym. Of course, one of them was to my beloved Target. Madeline LOVES Target, I might add, and even more so, she loves riding in the big part of the cart at Target. She considers this a treat since I never seem to need all the space for our items, so she can spread out with a couple of books & maybe even a snack. As we are leaving Target, Madeline was standing up (Bad Mommy, I KNOW!), but she was holding onto the side of the cart, and I had a hold of her as well. Not to mention, we were moving at a snail's pace, so I figured, "What the heck! It will be fine. It's bright and early, we're parked practically in the entrance of the store." Unfortunately, I didn't see the metal strip along the sidewalk which caught the cart and caused Madeline to go forward and knock her mouth onto the side of the cart. Whoops. Bloody busted lip, some crying, some consoling, and some juice ~ all seemed to be well. I continued my marathon morning of errands and the gym. Madeline seemed just fine -- no whining, bleeding stopped, and drinking & snacking didn't seemed to be affected. All continued to be fine through lunch -- still no whining, no blood, lunch was eaten, and nap time had begun.

Meanwhile, I'm sharing the story with my husband who is in the dental industry, and of course, he's asking me many more technical questions that I'm not prepared to answer. No, I didn't see how she hit the cart, no I didn't wiggle the tooth to see if it was loose, and no I didn't see blood around the gumline of the tooth. But, I didn't look that hard because Madeline stopped crying, the bleeding stopped, and she didn't seem to be in pain. She went back to being happy Madeline. I took all of those things at face value. About 45 minutes into nap, Madeline's sore gum set in & the crying started. Oh dear, now, this previously not very worried Mommy has thoughts of a missing front tooth, gum tissue damage, infection, and many trips to the dentist. Eric goes in to get Madeline from her bed and takes a peek at the affected area. Madeline goes ballistic. Obviously, something hurts, and something is wrong. The tooth isn't loose, but it does have blood around the gumline which apparently is a bad sign ~ who knew. Okay, it's now 3:30 PM on a holiday weekend. Aside from the fact that my child is hurt and I'm worried about her, it's now late on a Friday before a holiday weekend, and who are we going to call?

Thank goodness, Eric knows people! He immediately goes to his phone, makes a call to one of the oral surgeons he works with (on the doctor's personal cell, I might add), discusses Madeline's "case" using many dental lingo words like "number 8" & "lingual", and the next thing I know we have an appointment with his wife, Dr. Lisa, who happens to be a pediatric dentist. We were given a few over the phone instructions (no sippy cups, no paci), Tylenol for pain, and a few things to watch for until the appointment. We were fine to go ahead with our Fourth plans.

Yesterday we had our appointment with the very sweet and wonderful Dr. Lisa. Madeline did really well considering the circumstances. She was not a fan of the X-ray nor was she a fan of Dr. Lisa poking around to get a good look at the gum area and tooth. However, peace of mind for me is worth a few minutes of crying and kicking. Madeline did indeed chip her tooth ~hardly noticeable, the gum area is healing nicely, and the X-ray showed no signs of infection, looseness, or permanent damage. WHEW! Dr. Lisa was able to CSI piece together what she thinks happened regarding the cart vs. Madeline's tooth based upon the gum's appearance. Finally, Dr. Lisa told me that she sees this kind of thing all the time, and many moms react the same as I did. No crying or obviously missing teeth = all good. So, she made me feel better too.

Before: "Wait Mom! Let me make sure my purse has all the necessities before we go inside!" And, yes, that purse did go inside with us, toy cell phone and all.

Madeline strutted out of the office with a pinwheel from the treasure box and a smile on her face. What could be a better way to follow up a dental appointment? A haircut, of course! So, off to get pampered by Ms. Jenn in the stylist chair. Of course, the lollipop at the end helps too ~ don't tell Dr. Lisa! :)

After: Pinwheels are super fun!
A great day all in all.