One evening, about two weeks ago, my heart sank while I was brushing Ruby’s teeth. There, on one of her front teeth, was a very noticable divot. And it was yellow. She had a cavity. Immediately, that worrying voice inside my head starting hammering away at me. “we’ve been letting her brush her teeth on her own too often” “she’s going to have bad oral hygiene habits for the rest of her life…” “if she has one, she probably has more…” couple the nagging voice with the fact that, a few months ago, at her three year old check up, her pediatrician mentioned that it was time to start taking her to the dentist and I was feeling pretty racked with guilt.
It wasn’t the first time that I’ve felt guilty as a parent, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
So I booked her a dentisit appointment, we did a few rehearsals at home and practiced some teeth counting, and on Tuesday morning, instead of making a bakery run on the streetcar, we walked, me in a state of dread, she in a state of excitment because she had no idea what was about to happen, to Dr. Addler’s office.
Turns out it wasn’t a cavity. Hypo-plastic Enamel. Who knew? All that worry and guilt just for hypo-plastic enamel. It just makes teeth look that way sometimes. When I asked why it happened, because I’m a need to know kind of guy, Dr. Addler suggested that it could be the result of Hil having had a bad cold when Ruby’s teeth were calcifying in untero. I asked Dr. Addler if, instead of Hil having had a bad cold when the teeth were calcifying, could it have been caused by Hil having had a liver tumor that had to be removed during major surgery when the teeth were califying. He said that could do it too. It’s hard to pin these things down.
3 Ginger Snaps 