Courageous Joy

Zander’s Dental Adventure

Today was the day that Zander had an evaluation with the Pediatric Dentist. He has seen a dentist every 6 months for FOUR YEARS and has never opened his mouth until he showed Miss Gina his “sharp tooth” last week.

Today he went right in, answered their questions a bit (he wasn’t really into being social) and then opened his mouth.

Of course with a room like this – it’s hard not to win a kid over. They “happened” to put us in the ocean room. Dolphins are one of Zander’s “things”.
This is the lighting.

Zander was quite fascinated with the ceiling. Dr. S promised he’ll make the dolphins swim next time (laughing gas).

He got to wear some cool glasses.

He told Dr. S that he had TWO sharp teeth. I told him that Dr. Self had seen the one the one that was broken and none of us had noticed another. Noticing he’s biting in this photo – but he hasn’t done this the rest of the day – so I think he did well and took it in stride.

Of course, they wanted an x-ray. I was worried about this. I knew the bitewings would be a problem. They did this kind instead. They did them for FREE because our insurance won’t pay for this kind????

Zander did great. Mike and I were able to stand right there, Mike cracked jokes and told him what was coming next at every step of the way. When he got a bit tense we were there to NOTE that and calm him immediately. I don’t think Mike realizes how great HE was in there and I think that is really why Zander did so well.

They discovered that Zander needs TWO root canals. This may be why he says he has TWO sharp teeth. The one is literally sharp, but he may be interpreting pain from the other as sharp? We really don’t know. He says they don’t hurt. He likes his sharp teeth and I’m not sure how he’ll feel about it being crowned. ::snort::

Dr. S works with lots of autistic children and those on the spectrum. I could tell he’s good with reluctant children. Zander is scheduled for a root canal next Monday and one the week after that. Please pray as you feel led. He has to begin meds tonight. We’ll see how he does with the sugar in the meds. It could be a challenging couple of weeks.

In the practical arena….we pay up front, the office will bill Concordia and Concordia will send us a check. HOWEVER – Concordia doesn’t pay for things that we need done…so there you have it. The office does give us a 10% military discount. That will surely help with two root canals.