Getting Rid of the Sugar Bugs

Which is what we called Seth's first cavity filling today.

First, we arrived at the dentist office all smiles since Seth got to watch his ABC's song movie and was pretty proud of the fact he now knows his ABCs.

Then it was time to look all suave and debonair as the chair was adjusted. The studmuffin!

Feeling good with the nitrous! And looking kind of like a clown.

Patiently letting the hygienist and dentist do their magic while Dora the Explorer was on. Fun sidenote: Sometimes Dora would ask questions to the kiddies, which Seth would answer and the dentist thought Seth was stating something in pain until I explained he was just answering the cartoon. Awesome. So the end result of it all?

Two sugar bugs down and a happy little patient! I don't know if it's because we've been excited when talking about how cool the dentist is or that Seth got to sit and watch Nick Jr while getting taken care of, but he was such a trooper! I don't remember any dentist visit I've had that went as well.

He even got a Lightning McQueen stamp and quarter for the vending machine in the waiting room. The bouncy ball from that has now bounced into a dark corner somewhere in the car...

All in all, I was more nervous and Seth was just excited to get out of the house since Eliza so graciously bestowed the sickies on us right after Thanksgiving, leaving us ostracized from society for nearly a week.

I had my first cavity filling in this decade the day before and decided to opt out on the novacaine for multiple reasons. One of which is that I really didn't want to be numbed for seemingly hours afterward.

Another reason was to see why the men in my family don't use it. Surely if they can handle it, so can I! I wanted to see if it was worse than pregnancy back labor (it SO wasn't). Let me explain the madness.

Now, it's not because we're ethically against the use of anesthetics (in my opinion, epidurals are a gift from On High). It all started with my dad. He has horrible teeth and is a frequent contributor to the dentist's paycheck, but he never gets novacaine because he can't stand feeling numb.

Besides, he has multiple sclerosis (MS) so he's always in pain. I mean, it's not like he doesn't know how it feels to experience temporary pain because he's ALWAYS in pain.

Well, a few years after dad started the novacaine boycott, one of my brothers had to get a cavity filled, wanted to see what dad was talking about, and to make a long story short, it became a common rite of passage between the boys in the family to get their cavities filled without novacaine. I thought they were crazy.

I had also gone nearly a decade without a cavity, so at my last check-up when a cavity was discovered hiding between some molars, I decided to see what the lack of novacaine was all about.

I may still choose to get anesthetized (especially after seeing the calming effects nitrous oxide does) and it wasn't the most pleasant experience, but it was a temporary annoyance that didn't lead to embarrassing drooling and slurred speech which novacaine usually graciously bestows.

Well, now that things are back to normal a bit (just in time for the bustling fun of the Christmas season), I should be posting a little more frequently.