In Which the Offspring Are Braver Than the Parental Unit

I never made that appointment my husband said I needed to make since we've already met our dental deductible for the year. So my husband made it for me. He's helpful like that.

With T minus 2 hours until I would be putting my life and teeth in the hands of Dr. Curington, DMD, I whined stated the fact that I had to leave soon to be tortured by metal picks and scraping tools for my cleaning.

My daughter matter-of-factly responded, "Well, at least you don't have to have a big metal thing put in your mouth."

She's right, of course. This afternoon was Alex and Michael's appointment to have their jaw extenders inserted.

Now I don't know this for a fact because Mark took them to their appointment, but I'm pretty sure they did not have to have 18 x-rays done using a huge, ginormous THING that made me gag each time it was inserted in my mouth. And I'm sure they did not endure the terrible sound of plaque being meticulously scraped off of each and every tooth. Nope. All they had were metal contraptions put in their mouths

I was not shy about sharing with all of the dental staff my feelings as a dental patient (not to be confused with mental patient). They were still nice to me. In fact, my dentist told me that my teeth are so yummy and delicious despite the fact that I haven't had a cleaning in 4 years that it would be OK if I only had them cleaned once per year instead of the standard every-six-months. I think I almost like her.

The hygienist asked me if I still wanted the scheduled 6-month reminder sent to me in light of what my new dentist friend had told me. "Yes," I said, "because it will take me the other 6 months to work up the courage to come in again."

Meanwhile, my children were indeed having metal torture contraptions installed in their little mouths. And they really are so brave indeed. These things do not sit against the roof of their mouths, but rather create sort of a bridge halfway between their tongue and the roof of their mouths.

If I had one of those things in my mouth, I would be whining so much the thing would jump out of my mouth out of pure fatigue from my mouth flapping. But they haven't complained much. Alex only says she can't swallow, but then, I haven't seen much drool, so she must be swallowing when she's not thinking about it. She didn't eat much for dinner. I'm a little upset about their eating restrictions. For example, the list says they cannot have apples or carrots...really the only two fruits/veggies Michael will even eat. And everything they have eaten gets stuck between the contraption and the roof of their mouths.

It will be an interesting next several months with me trying to convince myself I need to be tortured another cleaning in a year, and my dear children trying to eat and talk normally with this Thing in their mouths. Then, of course, it's on to braces. My sweet little babies. They sure are brave!

Sorry...I could not get the apparatus without capturing up his nose as well.