Karson Needs Your Prayers

My sweet baby Karson is going to the dentist today. Some of you know about our last visit. BUT, for those that don't, Karson has TERRIBLE teeth like her parents (and grandparents). I wish I could make a long story short, but who are we kidding, I LOVE to talk (write, whatever)! She saw Dr. Barbee, who is a splendid dentist, in March. She had to get a silver crown, pulpotomy, a composite filling, etc. She was given laughing gas which took the edge off, but the shots were still painful. She looked like Hannibal Lecture with her mouth pryed open and metal everywhere. Barbee told me that he needed to work on every baby tooth in her little head. SO, here I was with decisions to make. We had just got dental insurance but it would take 6 months to kick in. I wrestled with the decision to spend that kind of money on her baby teeth which didn't seem to be giving her any problems. I mean God gave us two sets of teeth, right? I think there is a reason for that--Halloween candy, gummies, cookies, apple juice, PEZ, etc. God knows that kids can't resist those temptations (shoot, I can't either). We brush Karson's teeth faithfully and try our best to limit her sweets. Return to the endless saga, I'm sitting in the backless, circular, spinning chair next to Hannibal and wanting to race/roll around the office and think things over. I already knew we were going to have to sell blood, bone marrow, vehicles to pay for this visit. We bought a $20 bargain tube of magic toothpaste, left and told him we'd be back in August when our insurance would pay for some of the work. I called everyone I knew. I needed LOTS of opinions on the matter. My sister gave me the best advice (no offense to the others that offered). She said, "my friends who have kids in that position just wait until they are in pain and go." I'm not telling anyone else to do this, but this sounded like good advice to me. I didn't want to sell Isaac to the circus to pay for Karson's next visit, and how much should I expose my 5 year old to? I don't want her to dread going to the dentist each time knowing what's going to happen. Chances are, her permanent teeth will be just as bad (like mine). We're sitting at church last Sunday, and Karson is chomping on GoldFish crackers when she tells me her tooth is hurting. I look in her orange, goopy mouth and see a crack in her bottom molar which I can almost stick my fingernail underneath and she has a hole in the top molar on the same side. UGH. Here we are again, 10:15 this a.m. Hannibal: Part II. Pray for her, that God will give her peace and calm her nerves. She is a brave little girl that has endured a lot with her poor baby teeth.

UPDATE: Karson's visit went well. The dentist couldn't do any work until February. I was glad that they didn't see any urgency in the matter. At least we'll have our tax money then =)! We purchased some flossers and ACT II mouthwash at Wal-Mart which will hopefully aid in preventing more dental work. Thanks for all the sweet emails, comments and thoughts.