The Extraction

He made it over a year, but Drew finally had to get the chipped tooth removed. I had to wake him up super early and dash him off to the dentist without any breakfast {I felt SO bad!} and still in his pajamas. Thankfully he was a little groggy for the trip so there wasn't much crying and complaining. We were the first appointment of the day {technically before business hours even began} since Drew wasn't allowed to eat or drink 6 hours before his procedure. Just one more reason I LOVE this dentist - they don't like to torture kids!

Drew was so excited to be at the dentist again he completely forgot that it was breakfast time. Once all the paperwork was filled out, Drew was taken back to drink the "elixir" that would numb his entire mouth {AKA oral sedation}. I thought it would be a battle to get him to drink it, but it was in a syringe so he thought it was medicine {for some reason he LOVES cherry tylenol}. I had to hold him for 15 minutes while the drugs took effect and BOY was he ornery. He tried to fight his way off my lap and was almost too much to handle. The one time he got off my lap he swayed a bit and fell down {apparently kids can get injured badly if not restrained}.

We trooped the kid to one of the back rooms to prepare for extraction. They let him pick a movie to watch - he chose Finding Nemo then changed his mind to Cars. The hygienist put a nitrous oxide mask on that smelled like bubble gum and Drew got loopy. He kept trying to swat the mask off his face so I had to hold them down.

The dentist gave him 5 novacaine injections {which barely phased him}, twisted the tooth a couple of times {he hardly noticed}, and then it was out. The movie hadn't even gotten passed the opening credits. Did I mention there was not a single tear shed? Drew arched his back a bit as the tooth was coming out but I think it was more about being smothered by 4 adults rather than any pain he felt.

We got the tooth pulled in the nick of time. The thing was absolutely nasty; the roots were all mushy. Drew was given a "substitute" tooth {plastic} to take home and put under his pillow for the tooth fairy. How sad that our 3 year-old had to learn about money at such a tender age.

What a relief to have everything go well. Anybody who has talked to Drew knows that the dentist "took" his tooth because it was "yucky," and he's totally ok with that. We'll see how our routine cleaning goes in August...

BEFORE

{it's the brown one}

AFTER

{he was running around within an hour}

A few unsuccessful shots

{what a ham}

This is where I caught him the next day {admiring his new gap}