Cole vs. the dentist

The kids left a couple weeks ago to visit my mom and dad in Southern California. They usually go at the end of June when my mom gets out of school, but my dad is retired, so she figured she would take them early this year and they could just hang with my dad during the day. A day or two before they were to leave, Cole complained to me that his tooth hurt. I didn't think much of it because it's next to a loose tooth, so I figured that when he lost that tooth, the problem would be solved. Meanwhile, I tried to get him in to the dentist, but there wasn't enough time. He didn't complain again, so I figured it was no big deal. Well, last weekend, he was in so much pain that he couldn't eat. So, obviously we knew this was a bigger problem. My dad took him to his dentist's office Monday, and they told me he needs a root canal. My eight year old son! I wasn't convinced that they were completely competent (it's a really long story, but I just don't trust them). They were supposed to send the films to my dentist here for him to review, but they don't save them digitally, so they had to send them through the mail. In the meantime, Cole was too upset to let them do the work anyway, so they gave him a prescription for antibiotics and Tylenol to ease the pain. I thought for sure by the end of the week, my dentist would be able to tell me what he thought, but they didn't get the films. I should say, too, that this kid gets cavities all the time. He just had this tooth worked on six months ago, and it's in between two teeth (anyone guess how well Cole flosses?), but the work was down near the nerve. So the girl in my dentist's office here told me it is possible that he got more decay that got under the filling and worked its way to his nerve, which is what is causing all the pain. But, seeing as I don't trust the dentist there, I'm not going to have them just do the work immediately. So now, we're going to get him an appointment with a pediatric dentist there, and hopefully my dentist will be able to review the films by then. In the meantime, Cole is no longer in any pain--if he was still experiencing that discomfort, there's no way I would let all this time go by without him getting the work done. I'm just glad that we were able to relieve the pain so we could take a step back and figure out the best course of action for him. I feel sorry for the poor kid. It looks like he's inherited the bad teeth, and he's got bad habits. Jason and I need to do more due diligence at this point making sure that he actually goes and brushes when we tell him to, and maybe even brushing and flossing for him. How many people can say that they had their first root canal at 8? I had my first at 18 and I thought I was really young for it. My poor buddy. :(