I can't think of a better reason to post on this blog than to tell you that Liam had his first trip to the dentist today. Unfortunately, the trip to the dentist was predicated by two trips of the other sort. In the first instance he tripped and landed face first on a ceramic bocce ball. That ended up in a trip to to the ER, lots of blood, a chipped front tooth, and a couple other teeth that were moved back a bit. Stove-up as they say in Maine. And then last Thursday, he fell down the basement steps. Again, the banged up his mouth and tore that little flap of skin that attaches your top gums to your upper lip. The ferenium, I think. More blood, but we did have him checked out and no head trauma, concussion, etc.
So, we made an appointment with a pediatric dentist at the suggestion of the ER, to have things checked out.
The dentist is up in Bangor, so it's basically a half-day outing. Liam and I arrived and I filled out the forms while he played with the many toys in the waiting room. Then we were led back into the exam room. They've obviously done this once or twice, and Liam being two, they were fully prepared for a full on rebellion. Which is what they got. But it was fairly gentle. I held him in my lap such that I had his legs wrapped around my waist and I held his hands in mine. The nurse/hygenist held his head and did both a cleaning and inspection. Then the dentist came in for a look. All in all, they said that his injuries were fairly minor and that they see much worse. We still won't know for a few months if the jacked up teeth have fractured in any way, and even that won't be known unless the teeth turn color or an infection forms. They didn't do an xray because there was no way Liam was sitting still. All in all, it was a good visit if not entirely satisfying for dad. But what can they really do? The damage is already done and all we do now is wait and see. In the end, Liam was extremely glad to leave and only partially pacified by the stickers, balloon, and free toothbrush.
And finally, I'll note that one of my great realizations of fatherhood has been that the songs 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star', the 'ABCs' song, and 'Ba Ba Black Sheep', are all the SAME TUNE. Who knew?? Well, apparently Liam has figured this out.
