I hate teeth...

Yeah, I really do.  Teeth in general are becoming the bane of my existence.  I have awful teeth and always have.  After neglecting the dentist for over 5 years, I finally went in February.  The insurance dentist was a mean Russian lady who barely spoke English.  She yelled at me, was incredibly condescending,  and I left in tears.  My other insurance choice was a dentist in Brooklyn.  Um, I live a good hour and a half away from Brooklyn.  It just doesn't work for me.

So I found a wonderful dentist nearby.  But I have to pay out of pocket.  And it has become extremely expensive.  I'll spare you the gory details, but I have already had $10,000 of dental work done, and need another $2,000-$3,000 before I'm finished.  Ouch.  I had to borrow money from my parents, since, as I've said, I'm poor, and none of my credit cards have limits this high.

My boyfriend has awful teeth also.  He needs to go to a dentist, but keeps putting it off.  That brings me to my children.  Unfortunately, they seem to have inherited bad teeth also.  My oldest, T, still uses a binky even though he will be 4 soon.  If I refuse to give him one when he really wants it, he will not hesitate to rip a binky out of poor Goober's mouth.  This is not good for anyone, so I let him have his binky when he sleeps or throws a tantrum.  This spring, I noticed his teeth were gray near the gum line.  He had binky mouth (aka bottle mouth, but he stopped using a bottle long ago).  The first visit to the dentist was a bust-he wouldn't open his mouth at all.  Then he had an accident that involved him being kicked in the face.  One tooth broke off.  We went to another dentist, who said they would give him caps or pull his teeth.  This would be accomplished by putting him in restraints (that they call a papoose).  Over my dead body.  No one is going to restrain my baby like that!  So off we went to a 3rd dentist, who came in on a Sunday to see T.  His 4 top teeth were not salvageable.  The x-ray was completely black where the teeth were.  T needed an oral surgeon and a lot of sedation, but I think it was more painful for me than for him.  He took it like a champ.

T with no teeth

All was good until T started complaining of pain in his mouth a month ago.  I quickly called my wonderful dentist to switch my appointment with one for T.  He had 2 cavities, one on each canine, that were filled that day.  He sat still and was awesome about it, a huge change from his first visit there.

Last week, my boyfriend told me Princess was getting spots on her teeth. I was kind of shocked, since my children do brush their teeth every day, with help from Daddy.  And Princess has never touched a binky in her life; she prefers to suck on a fleece blankie.  Princess has white coat syndrome, so I made the boyfriend take her to the dentist.  He didn't listen and brought her to the family dentist, where they couldn't even get an x-ray.  Off to the pediatric dentist she went. (And by the way, if any of you live in Rockland County NY or Bergen County NJ and need a pediatric dentist, Dr. Fisher is awesome).  It turns out she needs 3 caps or the teeth pulled.  I guess we will find a way to get the caps, since the teeth can be saved. 

I want an explanation for all this.  Why did my kids end up inheriting our bad teeth genes?  Shouldn't brushing their teeth have been enough to prevent this?  How come no one ever told me before that baby teeth get destroyed so fast by processed sugar (if anyone had cared to tell me this, I would have stopped using Double Stuff Oreos as bribes a long time ago)?  Will Goober have problems with his teeth too?

That is why I hate teeth.  I don't want my kids to end up with the oral issues I have.  I don't want them to be afraid to go to the dentist in case they need a filling.  I don't want them to get made fun of for having weird teeth (or no teeth, in T's case).  I want them to be happy, well-adjusted kids who everyone likes.  And I don't want any tooth issues to interfere with their well being.