Cavities.

We're doing things right, but Abby's just a bit prone to cavities.

Luckily, we have found an amazing pediatric dentist and Abby was able to get 2 fillings and a crown done with no problems. She was so brave. Just look at all the stuff happening around her head - sunglasses to protect eyes from the gas and splatter, headphones for the movie she was watching, gas mask, "raincoat" in her mouth for the drilling work, and stretcher to keep her mouth open.

The dentist did the right side of her mouth 2 weeks ago. This past Thursday, he finished the left side. The first visit required a brief break when Abby started crying in the middle of the filling, but she was able to calm down and the work was finished with Abby still willing to go back again. The dentist kept reassuring us that even with the breakdown, she did surprisingly well for a 3 year old. The visit was just too long, requiring x-rays, analysis, then the actual procedure. This past Thursday, she was calm and did not resist anything. Not a single whimper, flinch, or cry of objection. We were very proud and impressed by her composure.

We very much liked that they treated her with respect and was so good at explaining every single step they did to her to help alleviate any fears, constantly reminding her that if she wanted to ask anything to please do so. The words they used to help her understand were also carefully selected not spawn fear. So, drilling away the decay was explained as brushing away the sugar bugs!

Abby seemed to be pretty happy about getting a "Princess crown" for her tooth, as the dentist called it.



The next day, Abby went to National Jewish Health Clinic for an allergy evaluation. She is very prone to developing upper respiratory infections which leads to wheezing, bronchitis, and trouble breathing. When cold season hits, she ends up with an infection once a month it seems. So, her pediatrician recommended that she see an allergist and National Jewish has the leading allergy and asthma specialists in the US.

A skin prick test was performed and once again Abby showed us how brave she can be with medical procedures.

It turns out that she is allergic to cats (a bit) and dogs (a lot), plus grass and weed pollen. She is on an inhaler of the corticosteroid, Flovent, twice a day and Zyrtec at bedtime.

Unfortunately, I'm not comfortable with the dosage of antihistimine being prescribed and I'm concerned about giving her Flovent for long. For the antihistimine, the doctor is prescribing 5 mg, which is twice the recommended dose for a kid her age. At the normal dose, during an allergic reaction, she already gets drowsy, meaning the dose is too high. We've been able to nullify her allergic reactions by giving her less than the recommended dose. So, I am definitely not comfortable about giving her twice the dose when she's not even having an allergic reaction, especially at bedtime when it's much more difficult to monitor her! Flovent has a side effect of making her susceptible to bronchitis. The whole reason we visited the allergist was to figure out how to PREVENT her from getting bronchitis. Needless to say, I'm a little confused, so I'll be calling the doctor on Monday to get a detailed explanation of this recommended treatment.