First Cavity…

I’ve been taking the girls to the dentist regularly since Elle turned 3. While Pinky seems to effortlessly glide through her visits with little more than a cleaning, poor Elle has suffered the brunt of the dental experience.


From a young age I was told Elle would need braces because her mouth was very small and her teeth were squished. Sure enough she’s needed braces as well as a whole gamut of other things. It seems every time I go in there’s a new problem. Their cleaning visit yesterday was no exception. Pinky’s cleaning went great and I was told again, how perfect and strong her teeth are, her spacing is great for when the adult teeth come in, I was told Elle on the other hand, had a cavity.

According to the dentist the culprit is soft teeth. I’ve been told numerous times over several visits that her teeth weren’t as hard they should be, so I knew this day was in the works. I also suffer from this unfortunate problem. I have no idea why my teeth are so crappy but I’ve apparently passed this wonderful issue down to my daughter. Soft teeth (there is a more scientific name but I can’t spell OR pronounce it) occurs when the outer layer of the tooth never hardens correctly the way a normal tooth should during childhood. Chipping of the outer layer is very common as Elle has a few chips in her back teeth. Cavities love soft toothed people. The way it was put to me was that Pinky would be fine with normal brushing but Elle would have to work 100% harder than everybody else to avoid getting cavities. Yikes.

Her drilling is scheduled for May and frankly I’m nervous. Not so much because she’s being drilled, she has a great, competent dentist but because Elle has an aversion to needles (drills will fall into that category soon). Shots at the doctor require no less than two nurses holding her down. She’s only 8 but incredibly strong when she’s terrified of something. I threaten the kids with getting cavities if they don’t brush their teeth but suddenly that doesn’t seem fair anymore seeing as how Pinky will most likely be fine and Elle will most likely get one or two every year!

Because I have soft teeth like Elle I know from personal experience that it sucks. I constantly got cavities which was disappointing because I keep my teeth cleaner then anyone I knew! My routine consists of flossing every morning (sometimes twice over just to be sure), then brushing for a LONG time, then I use either mouthwash or a tongue scraper, and top it all off at the end with chapstick. Seriously, WHO does that everyday?? Me, I do! I do and I still have had a cavity in every tooth I have except my front ones. The worst time was when I was 22, I went in for a cleaning and had twelve… you read that right TWELVE. Having 6 done at one time and the other 6 done two days later really messed up my bite for a long time because it changed the way my teeth met when I closed my mouth. You know the feeling you get when you have to get used to a new filling fitting into your ‘bite’, well imagine that times 12 at one time. It didn’t feel right for about a year.

On the bright side though, Even if Elle is destined to have her teeth drilled for the rest of her life; at least they’ll be strait! 