Going to the Dentist – By Barbara Baker

 

Since I was a kid, I’ve dreaded going to the dentist. So why would I volunteer to take my granddaughter to see one?

“She’s never had teeth pulled before,” my son says. “Are you sure you want to take her?”

“Yup. I’m not the one pulling her teeth out. The dentist is the bad guy. Not me.”

When we get to the dentist’s office, Ainsley grabs my hand. “Come on.”

She leads me through a colourful hallway, and we climb twisty stairs. At the top, we’re in a tree fort. A tree fort in a dentist office. How cool is that? We test out bean bag chairs in front of a big tv while cartoons race across the screen. Then we move on to a computer at the base of the tree and Ainsley tries out her math skills until they call her name.

“Follow me,” the dental assistant, Breanne says. “Jump right up here.” She taps the blue chair.

Ainsley hands me her stuffies for safe keeping, puts on the fashionable glasses and gets on the chair.

“So, you’ve got some stubborn baby teeth,” Breanne says and then explains what’s going to happen. She’s animated and entertaining and makes it sound like what’s about to happen will be fun.

I cradle the stuffies and watch Ainsley’s hands. They’re relaxed. Fingers spread out. What a brave girl. If she knew what was about to happen, she’d clench them into a ball.

“Hello,” the dentist greets us in a cheerful voice. “I’m going to put in some freezing so you won’t feel anything when the teeth come out.” He pulls Ainsley’s lip out and taps where the needle will go. “But you might feel a bit of a pinch when I do it.”

Ainsley nods.

The dentist slides the longest needle ever towards Ainsley but keeps it down low out of her line of vision. Clever guy.

“Open wide,” he says. “Here comes the little pinch.”

I squeeze the stuffies. Ainsley’s index finger taps the chair once but then relaxes. The dentist jiggles her lip while telling her baby teeth sometimes need help to come out so the adult teeth, which are currently facing the back of her mouth, grow properly. He slips the needle out and passes it discreetly to Breanne.

“I bet your lip feels funny now.”

Ainsley nods again.

“That’s the freezing working.” He smiles. “I’ll be back in a couple minutes.”

“What do you think the tooth fairy will bring?” I say.

“I don’t know if the Tooth Fairy is real.” Ainsley scrunches up her lip.

“Okay. But if she is real, how much money would she bring?”

“She brings money?” Ainsley puckers up her mouth and presses a finger on her lip. “It feels really big.”

“Yup, it’ll feel like that but,” Breanne passes her a small mirror, “look, it’s not big at all.”

Ainsley tips the mirror back and forth to examine her lip.

When the dentist returns, I sit up straight, reorganize the stuffies and squish them together. Tight.

“Okay, kiddo. Let's do this.” The dentist takes a silver plier-like grabby tool, slides it down out of sight again and brings it up to Ainsley’s chin. “Open wide.”

I perch on the edge of my chair and watch Ainsley’s hand. Still relaxed. She’s such a trooper.

“There’s one.”

The tooth pings into a container. He brings the grabby tool back to Ainsley’s chin. Her fingers, her hands – nothing flinches.

“There’s the second one.”

Ping. It also falls into the container.

The dentist looks at me. “Tell her parents not to worry. Those adult teeth will move right into place. Probably in a few weeks.” He turns back to Ainsley. “Good job. I knew you could do it.”

Breanne gives Ainsley two tokens to claim her prizes and then shows her the tiny teeth tucked safe in a miniature treasure chest.

“Wait till the Tooth Fairy sees these.” Ainsley skips down the hallway.

Treehouses? Painless tooth removal? And prizes? What a great day! For all of us.

You can contact me at: bbaker.write@gmail.com

Summer of Lies: Baker, Barbara:9780228615774: Books - Amazon.ca

What About Me?: Sequel to Summer of Lies : Baker, Barbara: Amazon.ca: Books