Not Fun

We have had quite the time with the medical field this year...

  We went in for our regular dental cleanings on September 1st.  Just like we've done every six months since we've lived here.  Our dentist told me that everyone's teeth looked great.  No cavities.  He said he could tell I helped the little ones brush because they open their mouths so wide for him, etc.  I didn't think anything of it.  It was a regular dentist visit.  Four of the kids needed to have sealants put on their teeth, and I had one cavity, so we scheduled a follow up appointment to go back and have the work done.  Because the dentist comes from elsewhere to our clinic, they couldn't get us in until the 20th of October.  The dentist did the required work, and so we thought we were good until our next appointment in 6 months.  A week later, Micah started complaining that his tooth hurt.  I looked in his mouth and it looked like his tooth was broken in half.  We called the clinic, and they said they couldn't get him in until January.  Really?? He's four.  How do you explain to a four year old that his mouth will just have to hurt for two months +?  We told them that wasn't going to work for us, and they said the only thing they could do was put us on a waiting list that if someone cancelled they would call us and see if we could go in then.  That didn't work for us either, but there wasn't anything else they would do for us.  The next week we were in SLC for John's UPPAC meeting and Micah started complaining about his tooth again.  We decided to give our old dentist a call in American Fork and see if they could get him in.  They told us to bring him right in and they would look at him.  When they looked at Micah's mouth, they said that no, the tooth wasn't broken like we thought it was.  It was dead and decayed so badly it was down to the nerve.  That's why his tooth was hurting.  How did our dentist miss that when he sealed it the week before??? I can't figure that one out.  (He has no cavities, his teeth look great!  I can tell you help him brush...Filling me full of bull is more like it.)  Not only did he have the problem with that tooth, but he also had 6, SIX, other cavities that he could see.  They tried to fix Micah's teeth right then.  Got him numb and everything.  Micah was fine until they started drilling.  That kind of freaked him out.  John and the hygenist were trying to hold him down so the dentist could work, but he just said it wasn't worth it.  He didn't want Micah to be afraid of coming to the dentist.  We had to go another route.  Micah had to have dental surgery.  We talked to the clinic in Green River about what the dentist had missed, and  basically all we got was, "It's not his fault.  All dentists are different. We have people coming from Denver just to see the dentist here.  He is wonderful!  We don't have the right equipment for x-raying on pediatric patients."  (Then why are you seeing them??)  I'm still pretty mad about the whole thing, and no, we will not be back to see him again.  I don't want to talk to him and listen to his excuses of why he missed so many things in my child's mouth.  I have nothing to say to him--nothing nice anyway.  It won't change anything.  Even if they just got in the right pediatric x-ray equipment so they can better serve those of us with small children.  Doesn't help us now!  We have a dentist bill for the surgery of more than $1,300.00--after insurance! Thanks to my problems ealier this year our medical savings account didn't even have a hundred dollars left in it.  So very frustrating! 

The surgery was set up for December 2nd.  We went to the Riverwood Surgical Center.  Micah was a little nervous, but very brave. :)  He was glad to get his teeth fixed so they wouldn't hurt anymore.

Just before the surgery.  They brought in a wagon to take him into the OR.  He was excited to get to ride in it, but nervous to leave John behind. :)

Waiting for Micah in the recovery room.  The surgery lasted about an hour, so it wasn't too bad.

The dentist ended up having to do 2 root canals, and fixing 7 cavities.  More work than we were expecting to be done.  He said once he got in there, the one cavity was so bad that he had to do a root canal on that tooth also.  Glad that he was able to get everything fixed.  Now we hope the other children's teeth aren't as bad.  We'll find out in March when we go to our dentist in AF for our 6 month cleanings. (Can't go before then because our insurance reset on Sept. 1st--the day of our last dental appointments--grrrr! and they won't pay for more than 2 cleanings a year.) 

They brought Micah to us just as he was beginning to wake up.

 Micah told John--while they were waiting to go into surgery--after they put on his medical bracelt that it looked like a present!  He was pretty excited about that.

Micah was pretty groggy and was kicking and screaming as he woke up.  I was glad John was there to hold him.  It looked like John was having a tough time keeping him in his arms and on his lap.  I don't know that I could have held him with my abdomen not healed all the way yet. 

Once Micah was alert, he watched cartoons and sipped on some sprite and ate a popcicle.  He had to do so before they would let us leave with him.

Micah looked in the mirror and was so excited to see two silver teeth!  Lol

Thanks for being so brave buddy!  We're sorry you had to go through this.  We'll be better about brushing and taking you to a dentist who knows what they are doing.  Love you!