Teeth again

OK, here we go back to the teeth saga. Monday morning I called our regular dentist and told him about Edward's tooth changing color over the holiday weekend. He said I should take him to a pediatric dentist. So I called the pediatric dentist and they said I could bring him in that afternoon. For good measure, I also said I wanted them to check Andrew's mouth since his space maintainer retainer was hurting him. The retainer has four false front teeth so he can bite his food and talk better and is connected to his 2-year molars. The first blessing came when we were able to get to the dentist's office safely. It had started snowing and when I made a left turn on the drive to the office, the car began spinning on the ice. Some of the Wisconsin driving lessons must have kicked in (along with divine help) because we avoided a complete spin and an accident. It certainly scared me. The boys thought it was fun. 

Once safely in the dentist's office, the dentist looked at Andrew's mouth and removed his retainer. Andrew has an infection in his gums and will be without his retainer for two weeks while his mouth heals. The dentist took one look at Edward's tooth and said that the tooth was dead and needed to be taken care of. He explained that what they usually do is sort of a mini-root canal or pulpotomy, where they remove the dead nerves and blood vessels from the tooth, but leave the tooth in place. This wasn't unfamiliar to me since both my dentist and a sister had explained this procedure. The pediatric dentist said that it would take about 15 minutes and we could do it right then if we wanted (you want to do it sooner rather than later so the infection doesn't spread to the bone and damage the permanent teeth). I thought for a minute and realized that I had come prepared--for some reason I brought two of Lucy's blankets, one of which had a silky edge that Edward loves, as well as a complete diaper bag. So I told the dentist we would do it right now and that Edward would be fine if I held his hand and he had his blanket. I said a prayer with Edward, Andrew, and Lucy. Then the dentist numbed Edward's tooth and sent us out to watch the movie for a bit. Andrew was happy to play out in the waiting room with all the games. Lucy was happy to get her diaper changed. We came back and the dentist very quickly took care of the tooth. Edward was amazing. According to the dentist, Edward did much better than children much older--and without any sedatives or anything like that. The dentist was also very good--he worked quickly and talked with Edward. The drill was a "train" that was cleaning the tooth. He showed me everything whether or not I really wanted to see it. Finally, the dentist covered the front of the tooth with some type of cement or enamel and we were all done. We were thankful for good medical care, and for listening to promptings so that I was prepared.

The final blessing was that we got home safely in the snowstorm. Originally I think the forecast was for a chance of snow with maybe an inch on the ground. We now have 12 or more of those inches on the ground and it hasn't stopped snowing for the past 32 hours as of this writing. I spent four hours shoveling snow today and barely made a dent in the piles. It takes a long time when I have to toss the snow--or the snow-ice mess from the road--onto piles that are 4 or 5 feet tall. Those living in warm climates are smiling and thankful right now.