Friday, February 4, 2011

THE Root Canal



Wednesday I took Kenlee in for her root canal. We had to see an endodontist because her pediatric dentist does not do root canals. I think I was as nervous as she was. I had no idea what to expect because I have never had one. I told her to bring her blanket thinking she might get cold being in the chair for so long and it might bring her comfort too. Once we were called back to the exam room, she started freaking out and saying "no, no...I'm not here". When I finally got her back to the room, they needed to take an x-ray of the tooth. It was terrible...the film they had was big for her mouth and hurt her to bite down. She was throwing a fit and after 2 dental assistants couldn't get the x-ray done, they brought the dentist back to do it. After about 15 minutes and some screaming from her....he finally got it done. She had herself all worked up and was a mess...crying and shaking. At this point I am begging them for the nitrous oxide. Once they finally got the "gas mask" on and it had been a few minutes....she was a totally different kid. She did complain about the numbing shots, but handled it better than I had imagined.
Oh, nitrous oxide....you are wonderful (and totally worth $60)! She was giggling and trying to talk the whole time. After a total of 1 hr and 45 min, we were done. Now she has to go in to her regular dentist and have a filling put in that tooth. When she gets a little older they will do a crown. I am not sure why they wait, he just said that's what they do. A filling it a lot cheaper, so it sounds good to me.

1 comment:

natterbee said...

Poor girl! Root canals are so awful. It doesn't seem fair that someone as young as Kenlee should have to have one!