Marin Dentist Visit

Marin has about a dozen cavities. We originally scheduled to address them in August, but then my insurance got screwed up, and then my job got screwed up, so we had to postpone everything until this week.

A little backstory here. Marin has told us the only food at her house was bread, tea, and soda. At first, this was shocking, but the more we thought about it, it makes sense. They are poor, so all they can afford to eat is bread. The water is not potable, unless you boil it to make tea. Coke and Pepsi are ubiquitous and everyone knows it will not cause illness. Imagine what the acid of tea, the sugar and acid of soda, and the starches of bread do to little teeth that are poorly maintained anyway. Yeah, awful.

Now back to the story. Marin is up in the dentist chair just hamming it up having a great time. The dentist (who happens to be my cousin) is just yukking it up right along with her. When Marin opens up wide to laugh, Deanna daps a little topical at the back of her jaw. A few minutes later, with Marin laughing again, snuck the novocaine in. Marin never even had a clue until her cheek started to feel tingly. She was so cute.

Drill and fill. Drill and fill. Five times and we're done.

Marin sits up in the chair and flashes her gigantic smile, but the right side of her face was paralized from the novocaine. It was the funniest thing ever. Deanna and I were peeing our pants. Even Marin, after we showed her in the mirror, was laughing.

On the ride home Marin asked to be rewarded for being a good girl at the dentist. She wanted a chocolate ice cream cone. If you've ever drive Route 1 between Rockland and Bath, you know there is an ice cream stand about every hundred feet. So Marin sees dozens of pictures of ice cream cones and asks me why we are not stopping. Well, it's October and they're all closed. Marin does not believe that and is about to throw a fit.

"Daddy. Not fair. I was good girl. I need ice cream. You told me yes. I'm not your friend anymore." and on and on and on.

Finally, in Wiscassett, there was this little general store with an old fashioned ice cream fountain inside. Marin sat up high on the round red stool, proud as a peacock. (by the way, I am suddenly her friend again). She orders chocolate ice cream but (oh oh) they are out of chocolate. Total long face. Then the lady explains she can put some oreo cookies in the vanilla to make it look like chocolate. Marin lit up like a christmas tree.

Marin was adorable sitting up on the stool eating her oreo cookie ice cream with chocolate sprinkles on top. What a great kid she is.