Their pain, Our pain

As you know, Shannon had her two front lower teeth extracted over the weekend. For more than a month, her new teeth had been growing behind her baby teeth - and those stubborn babies just refused to get shaky and continued to remain firmly planted in her gums.

Shannon was actually the one who kept bugging Celest everyday to bring her to see the dentist. Must have been the horror stories about having to wear braces, which successfully got her to change her mind about getting her teeth pulled out. Poor girl, didn't know what she was asking for until it was too late. Everyday, for the past week, it was "Mummy, can you bring me to the dentist TODAY!". I think we'll never hear her saying that again.

I was standing outside in the waiting area, with some other patients. Her screaming and whimpering could be heard very clearly through the thin walls, or more like partition. I looked at the faces of some of those people who were also wincing in pain, wondering if they should make a dash for the exit. It seemed like the crazy surgeon was on shift that day, not the nice doctor the receptionist had promised. I even explained to some of them that it was my daughter getting an extraction and everyone said "poor girl, poor girl".

Celest was inside with her. I could peer through a small clear portion of the "1" (indicating the room number) on the otherwise frosted glass. I could see the dentist prying open her mouth and eventually pulling out her teeth - but I have to be honest with you ... I didn't look much. Between the loud crying and the physical pain i felt in my own lower gums, I just couldn't bear to watch; really, I tried but it was just something I could not do. I am truly amazed with Celest being in there with her and taking pictures of the big pliers pulling out her teeth. I wouldn't have been able to do that.

She came out with tears all over her face, a bloody cotton piece in her mouth. Her spirits were low and her entire mouth was numb after a trauma she had never previously experienced. I gave her a big hug and told her that she was very brave, fighting back my own tears - but it didn't help her at all. The pain of the operation was too much for this little girl to handle and she needed some time to overcome her emotions and sort everything out. And she did, rather quickly.

Although she couldn't eat, and talk without sounding like someone with a piece of cotton in her mouth, she was in better spirits within an hour. After lunch, she told me about a young boy who asked his dad what she had in her mouth. I said maybe he thought it was a marshmallow and we both laughed. Such marvelous emotional recovery, our young brave princess just bounces back in an instant.

And physical recovery too. It looks like her adult teeth are already moving in to take over the vacancy. I swear if you stare at her mouth long enough, you can actually see those two sharp guys slowly walking forward side-by-side. She has a habit of looking into the mirror at her teeth whenever she gets a chance.