Elizabeth had her operation today. She was scheduled for 7am this morning so we left home at 6:30am thinking that we’d miss the Auckland traffic but no, the traffic was already thick. A journey which would normally only take about 15 minutes, took 35 minutes.
Elizabeth was in good spirits and quite excited about the whole thing. She knew what to expect and she knew a mask would put her to sleep. However the minute the anaesthetist put the mask on her face, she starting kicking and screaming. It was awful. We had to pin her down until she fell asleep. This had me in tears.
It was a short procedure and she woke up happy and has been full of beans all day. She now has three stainless steel caps (or crowns) on her back teeth. She calls them Princess teeth.
One surprising thing is that the nurse in recovery gave her an ice block when she woke up. A red, sticky, sugary thing. I mean, what was she thinking? Here’s a little girl with three cavities requiring crowns and the nurse gives her a sugary ice block. I didn’t say anything but I wish I had.
I have never, ever bought fizzy drinks for my kids. I know I’ve said this before but I can’t emphasise enough how much I hate that stuff. I feel the same way about cordial. Orange juice now too.
There is a stigma attached to crowns and fillings in children and the stigma is that of poverty and neglect. I don’t know whether there are more dental problems in children from poorer backgrounds but there is a perception in society that this is the case. The perception is that children with preventable dental problems have been neglected and have poor diets. This is why I have really struggled with this. Elizabeth is certainly not neglected and she has a good diet.
All three of her cavities entered the tooth from between the teeth and so could have been prevented by regular flossing.
The moral of the story is as soon as your baby has two or more teeth side-by-side, start flossing.
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