Thursday, November 7

For about a year, I have known Isaiah had a cavity in a baby tooth, and it looked like he had a second one in another tooth. This was horribly embarrassing to me. I was the Weston A. Price Foundation chapter leader for this area for a year, after all. I study good nutrition. I read in the Wise Traditions journal about people whose cavities heal after the consumption of fermented cod liver oil, bone broth, and raw milk. All of which we also consume ... sometimes. I gave up on the cod liver oil after throwing it up in early pregnancy, and didn't give it to the boys, either. I didn't make much bone broth, either, and we clearly haven't had much raw milk over the last four years.

And did I mention none of us have gone to the dentist in the last five years? (The last trip, when we still lived in Boulder, the dentist, although respectful, was visibly taken aback that we used no fluoride products, but when we left, he said, "Keep doing what you're doing, because your teeth look great!")

Two weeks ago, Isaiah started to cry because his tooth hurt so much. I gave him homeopathic Hepar sulph and made an appointment for the earliest possible day.

We are fortunate—a holistic dentist out of Northern Virginia comes to Charlottesville every couple of weeks (and if you are local and in need of a new dentist, go there!). Isaiah had no wait, and went right back. I wasn't sure if they would do an extraction (it is a baby tooth that most children lose between ages 9 and 11, and Isaiah will be 10 soon), or a filling. Both Phil and I lost teeth well behind the normal schedule, and because that tooth showed no signs of movement, the dentist said that a filling would be better, because otherwise the teeth would move around and cause different problems.

He had no problem waiting on filling the second tooth, though. The cavity wasn't as bad, and the dentist didn't raise an eyebrow about cavities healing themselves. "We've seen some crazy things." Perfect! If we have to fill it later, so be it, but we're not losing anything by waiting.

He did the entire filling without a numbing agent, and Isaiah didn't flinch once. And this with a cavity that did go all the way to the nerve! I remember from my three fillings as an adult, wondering if the numbing agent was really necessary for three cavities I couldn't feel. (I suspect not.)

Even better, for my wounded pride, the dentist said that baby teeth have thin enamel. The two teeth directly correspond to acupuncture meridians, so whatever organ or organs were affected may have been affected just during a brief time of stress, which destroyed the two teeth in short order. "The rest of the teeth are clean and strong." So I may still be a bad mother, but not as bad as I had feared.

I had been growing concerned about my own teeth, too. I could feel a little pit with my tongue; the gum line felt tender in places; I am a life-long teeth grinder ("chronic bruxism"). So I, too, had an appointment. The dentist graciously let Isaiah lean right over my mouth and watch all the tools as he worked; he answered all questions and explained the procedures.

My pit turned out to be a bit of tooth that probably didn't develop properly, but is now well-calcified. Not a cavity. My teeth, in all visible places, were clean (thank you, SoniCare!): just below the gum line did I have plaque. The gum line tenderness is because I gave up flossing during pregnancy.

One surprising thing we found is that Isaiah is tongue-tied. Apparently, if a person opens his mouth all the way, he should still be able to touch the upper palate. That seems hard to believe, as neither Phil nor I can do that, either, but assuming that is accurate, no wonder Isaiah mumbles sometimes! (This is not the normal kind of tongue-tie, where the tongue can hardly come out of the mouth. There is another kind of tongue-tie, where the sides of the back of the tongue are tied, which makes it hard for babies to latch on properly. When this happens, air gets into the tummy, and causes colic. That was new information to me!)

So all in all, it was a cheery, wonderful visit. And it didn't cost as much as I had feared. I got the other three boys on the appointment books for the next available time.

Isaiah said, "I think I might like to be a dentist!" And I bet he would be a good one.

That trek took almost five hours. Phil had been working away on storage cabinets, and he's doing a good job. There was one terrible moment, though, where he was trying to hang a large cabinet (as always, by himself) and, due to its awkward size, it slipped. That would have been enough, but it knocked a free-standing cabinet over, and this cabinet fell until it hit the drywall.

I came upon Phil shortly after this happened. He was sitting on a couch in the RV, looking dazed.

When I asked how much was damaged, fearing that both cabinets were smashed, and a huge hole ripped in the drywall, he said that, amazingly, the only damage was to the drywall, which now has a few scratches and dents. That's why we have paint. I'll take that damage.

In other news, Bethany upped her production to 18 cups for the day in two milkings, almost a 30% increase in a day. And she stood still and didn't poop three times during the ten minute milking as she had done the day before. I'll take that improvement.

I finally ordered a new coat, since my farm coat's zipper broke at the end of last winter, and it arrived today, so I will be warm next time I need to milk in the cold. I'm very pleased about that.

The boys have been enjoying all the Calvin and Hobbes books. Abraham even read some comic strips today, which made me so glad. Bill Watterson uses quite the vocabulary, so clearly Abraham's reading confidence has soared, that he was willing to attempt it. (It did make me smile, though, as he was reading them to Joe. Jadon has read all the strips aloud so often, as Abraham carefully read each word, Joe would usually finish the sentences, since he has them memorized.) This would have frustrated me, but it appeared to phase Abraham not a bit.