Santa, the Dentist and all that fun stuff

So I discovered last night that Katie no longer believes in Santa Claus. It's so sad. And she didn't even ask me or anything like that, she just made a comment. Not one of those comments that let me know she is unsure and asking for me to reaffirm her faith in Santa, just a comment that let me know she didn't believe, she knew it was us, and that was that.

It actually kinda took me by surprise in a way. She's a pretty mature kid in many ways, but she's always had a wonderful imagination, and is very emotional. I thought she might be one of those kids who believes for a long time. She's only 9. I don't know when I stopped believing, so maybe it's a normal age, but it was just too soon. On the other hand having met some of the kids in her class, and knowing a couple of her friends closely, it didn't surprise me that she no longer believes and neither do her friends. After it sunk in though I decided to just have a quick chat with her about Santa and tha magic of giving at Christmas. We also talked about how there are some kids in her class who still believe and all the little kids at school and her sisters who still believe of course and how sad it would be for them to quit believing. She understands she's a part of the magic of Santa in keeping that belief alive in her sisters.

Maybe I should have sat her down and told her she was wrong and that Santa was real, but I'm not positive that would have accomplished much. I told Chris that instead of a present from Santa she could get a note that said "Dear Katie, I don't believe in you either, so there!" Maybe then she'd start believing again. I'm kidding of course.

I on the other hand have decided that I'd much rather believe in Santa than dentists though. Dentists don't leave presents, they are not jolly, and they discourage cookies. There is no magic going on at the dentists office whatsover. That was proved to me yet again today. This morning Katie, Beth and I all had appointments. The girls were getting a cleaning and a checkup and I was supposed to get a filling and if there was time, a check up. The dentist had a cancellation so she was able to do a check up, so I told her about the tooth pain I was having on the top right side. That's where I was having pain the last time I had a check up apparently, but she couldn't find anything so just asked me to keep an eye on it. Then I had to book myself in for this filling. I forgot and forgot and then when I finally remembered I was having the tooth pain again, and thought that must be the tooth I need the filling in. I was wrong. The tooth that needs the filling is on the bottom and it doesn't bother me at all. The top tooth however has really been hurting the last couple of weeks though, so she did a bunch of tests on that tooth.

First the x-ray showed nothing wrong, no cavity. She she banged on the tooth with something metal, and made me jump in pain. She did that a few times for some insane reason. Then she looked at the xray for a while again. Then she took an ice stick out of the freezer and held it on various parts of my tooth asking me to tell her when I felt the cold or any pain. I never did feel the cold, so she tried it on some other teeth which felt it just fine. Again it was time to look at the perplexing xray. Next she tried a pulp tester or something to that effect. Dentists should maybe explain things through sometimes before they scare you. She nonchalantly says she is going to hold this metal pole agains my tooth and I have to hold onto the pole as well to complete the ciruit. Huh? Complete the circuit? Like mini electroshock therapy for my tooth? Maybe they are going to shock it into behaving so they can figure out what's wrong, I don't know? She must have seen the worried look on my face as I was slowly reaching for the pole because she then laughed and said "It's not going to shock you or anything, don't worry." Well maybe the not shocking part should have come out right before or immediately after she mentioned completing the circuit and I wouldn't have looked so concerned. No wonder I and so many other people, hate going to the dentist. Anyways, it turns out I couldn't feel anything with the pulp tester either, and again they tried it on another tooth so I could feel what it was supposed to feel like. Funny for a tooth that has no feeling it sure has been causing me a lot of pain.

So basically the only explanation the dentist can come up with is that perhaps the filling I currently have in that tooth goes deep and that over time it killed the nerve. She wants to remove the filling and take a look since we have exhausted every other avenue to discover why it's causing me pain. She decides to do this tooth today and leave the other filling for another day. So to make this long story slightly shorter, my quick filling turned into a root canal on a completely different tooth. Santa would never do that to anyone! My 1 hr appointment turned into 2.5 hrs and I have to come back one more time, maybe twice to finish the root canal, another time to do the filling on the bottom and then 2 more times to put a crown on the root canal tooth. Stupid teeth. Santa wouldn't make me come back 5 more times. Considering he can fly around the whole world in one night, I'm sure he could fix my teeth lickety split without any circuit completing and maybe even a cookie.