Well, technically only 3 since one of the teeth had already started to come in (if you remember August). What causes this need for front teeth you ask, well after Ellie's cleaning in October the dentist noticed not only the prominent tooth coming in, but that the tooth next to it was trying to come in and the baby teeth just weren't budging so he recommended we pull the 4 front bottom teeth. It took a bit of scheduling because we couldn't do it right before Halloween that would have been just cruel, then the baby, Thanksgiving and well we thought it might be nice for her to have the time off of school to recover so we scheduled it for this afternoon and didn't tell her until after school today. As I explained she was going to have 4 teeth pulled she flinched and then I quickly followed with the fact that the tooth fairy would come and the flinching stopped. She then opened a gift from Mimi & Grandpa that was so cute and thoughtful, a special pillow to hold her teeth and a sweet note with memories from my dental work (I had 8 teeth pulled 4 baby and 4 permanent teeth when I was about her age).
We asked her who she wanted to go to the dentist with her and she asked if Daddy would go so I sent them off. Steve was good to text me updates which I greatly appreciated:
Stephen Moore:
2 shots down. She had been great so far.
3:44 PM
Me:
What a brave girl! Tell her I'm proud
3:44 PM
Stephen Moore:
Done
4:26 PM
Me:
She ok? Can I have anything ready for her when she gets home?
4:27 PM
Stephen Moore:
she's good. Be there soon.
4:33 PM
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We had talked about possibly using the gas because she kind of freaked out with the flu shot, but she handled all 5 shots in her mouth wonderfully. Steve said he noticed her hands were tense, but she didn't panic or cry. They first sealed her four permanent molars. Steve said they did a bit of drilling because a cavity was starting to form (she has never had a cavity before so I'm glad we got those teeth sealed). As they were preparing to pull the teeth they talked about only pulling two teeth and Ellie said, "I thought you were going to pull 4." Which in the end was determined to be for the best. So they pulled out 4 teeth and one of them still had all of the roots and the dentist said that one he would have had to pull no matter what. She came home and we visited for a bit while I changed her gauze and then we all snuggled in to watch a classic movie I recorded off of BYU TV called Snowball Express. It was fun and we all laughed a lot. I had put a Pozole (soup like dish) in the crockpot in anticipation of Ellie's condition and she was starving and gobbled it up with some applesauce and homemade chocolate mousse for dessert. It was pretty funny because she still couldn't feel much of her lip so some of the food kept running down her chin. Then at one point she started feeling more there and kept slapping her chin until I told her to stop. She is a brave and strong girl!!
Left: Slight smile (still pretty numb), but you can't really see the gums.
Right: You can better see the gum and her one permanent tooth sticking up in the back.
I took this picture of Andrew and Lila sleeping while Ellie was at the dentist.
I found it a bit ironic since this morning we had just read about the Garden of Gethsamene and how Peter, James and John kept falling asleep while Jesus was suffering.
The dentist just called to check on us and all seems to be going well. Can't wait to see what the tooth fairy brings. Mom & Dad wrote a special note to her explaining the situation and requesting a special gift for Ellie. :)
