Small

Take A Look

Hi everyone! I finished this chapter a lot earlier than I was expecting to so enjoy another update! Have a safe Labor Day weekend!

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Darren was able to make me a dentist appointment quicker than either of us expected. The office was in a building that looked like a house. It didn't have a porch or any furniture outside but there were plants hanging under the windows.

Darren held the door for me and I stepped inside. The waiting room was small but two other people were already there. I was expecting kids to be there but the only other people were adults. I hated being stuck around adults all the time.

"Go have a seat. I'll be right over."

I watched Darren walk over to the woman sitting behind a glass window and then glanced at the chairs. There were two separated from where the other people sat so I chose one and sat down.

Darren came over just a minute later with a clipboard and some papers attached. He started scribbling on them and I watched him fill the papers out. It took him a few minutes to complete all of the papers before he took them back to the woman at the window. He handed them over and then joined me once again.

"Who knew you'd keep me so busy?"

"I didn't know there was so much to being... me." When I lived with Owen, there wasn't much to deal with. He never took me to see important people like Lisa. He just left me at home and I had to fend for myself.

"That's sort of the downside to being an adult. Or a kid, even. There's no telling when things like this will come up and what kind of issues you have to deal with."

"So, it just happens?"

He nodded. "Unfortunately. But there are things we can do to prevent it. Like we can eat better and brush our teeth and keep seeing the dentist so we don't have big problems."

Darren seemed so smart. He knew so much and it felt like he had his, and my, life figured out. I wasn't sure how he did it but I was very impressed.

"Aly?"

I glanced to our left and saw a woman in a blue outfit standing in the doorway. She had curly hair pulled back from her face.

Darren put his hand on my back. "I'll go back with you."

We followed the girl back to a small room and she told me to sit down on a chair that looked like a recliner. A table was attached to the chair and it had metal instruments that looked like pens lined up neatly. On the walls were different posters with teeth on them.

"Alright, Aly. My name is Jewel. I'm a dental hygienist. I read that this is your first time at the dentist."

I nodded.

"Today, we're going to look at your teeth and see what kind of condition they're in. Do you brush your teeth before you go to bed?"

I shook my head. Darren tried to keep up with it with me but we didn't do it consistently.

"Did you brush your teeth when you were little?"

I shook my head. Owen didn't care about hygiene. He had other things to worry about. So did I.

"Okay. Well, let's go ahead and take a look." She sat down on a stool and grabbed a paper towel with clips on each side. She put the towel on me like a bib. She handed me a pair of green sunglasses and told me to put them on.

She turned a bright light on over my head and picked up two of the tools from the little desk beside me. "Go ahead and open your mouth for me. Say 'ah'." I did as she said and she put the tools in my mouth. I panicked as thoughts flooded my head of what she was going to do with them. Did she want me to eat them? What was going on?

"Have you had any pain while eating before?" She pulled the tools out of my mouth and turned in her chair. She started typing something into a computer that sat on the counter to my right.

"It hurt to eat ice cream a few days ago."

"Did you have any pain when you were little?"

"Um, I think so. I know little pieces have come out before."

She nodded. "It looks like you have some missing."

"Is that... bad?"

She sighed. "Yes, actually. It is. Adult teeth don't come back. Once they're gone, they're gone."

"Oh."

She removed the blue gloves she was wearing and stood up. "I'm going to have the dentist come in and take a look. I'll be right back."

I sat up a little bit and looked at Darren. He was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. He didn't seem as nervous or worried as I felt.

"You're doing a good job, Aly."

"Am I in trouble? She seemed mad at me."

Darren shook his head. "No, she's not mad at you. I think she just wants you to know how important it is to take care of your teeth."

"Oh. I-I didn't know."

"We'll work on it more. I've been a bit slack on the rules. I need to get better at that."

"I like that you don't yell at me, though."

He smiled. "As long as you're good and follow the rules, I won't have to yell at you."

The door to the room we were in opened and a tall man with fancy glasses on his head and a mask around his mouth stepped in. "Hi, Aly. I'm Dr. Barry. It's good to see you. Let's take a look at your teeth and see what we're dealing with."

I opened my mouth again and let him stick the tools inside my mouth. I hated having sharp stuff in my mouth. What if he poked my tongue and made it bleed?

He was silent for a few seconds before he spoke. "Do you have any pain right here?"

As he spoke, he poked right where my hurt tooth was and I let out a cry.

He nodded to himself. "It looks like you have a broken tooth there. I'd like to get an X-ray to see where we can go from here."

I looked at Darren. What was an X-ray? It sounded kind of cool.

"I'll have Jewel come back and she'll get you set up for the X-ray."

I didn't realize my visit to the dentist would be so involved. There was so much around healing a hurt tooth and it seemed like there was still a long way to go. I just wanted to be better so I could eat ice cream again.