Third Times a Charm

Today Jim and I both took off work to take Lauren to the third person who was supposed to help with her broken tooth. I realize that I haven't really mentioned what has been going on. You see way back before Christmas I took the kids to the dentist and Lauren had broken a tooth. The problem is the tooth was an adult tooth. This is very important to remember. The dentist didn't want to touch it and sent us to an endodontist. I had Jim make the appointment (after much bitching) and also had him go alone. This is were our trouble began. You see the woman didn't really want to work on the tooth. It was very complicated. She gassed Lauren up, applied the local gel and then the Novocain. When she went in Lauren kind of jerked. Not knowing what to expect, she was a little scared. The endodontist then turned off the gas and pretty much threw Jim and Lauren out. She said that Lauren needed to be sedated. Jim and I didn't realize that this was just not going to happen. Here is the basic problem. Pediatric dentist will knock out kids but don't work on adult teeth and adult dentist don't knock out kids. Jim must have called about 50 people. He even called the insurance company. They were no help. Everyone said we would have to go to one of the major kid hospitals. We took a trip to one in the center of Philadelphia. The place turned out to be very scary and weren't able to do anything. Jim and I got really pissed and they then referred us back to a endodontist back near where we live. I spoke to them and they said they could give her a Valium or the like and try that with gas. Well this guy was great. He took his time and answered all Lauren's questions. Of course I was a reck. I have a major fear of the dentist myself and the smell alone can give me a panic attack. The nurse was joking that I should have been the one to take the Valium. In the end, the root canal was done. Lauren was great and raved about how great the dentist was. I hope I never have to go through that again.