breathe// 5SOS

32

"Tia,"

"Well they are very pretty names," I said, "Tia, do you think you could get on my special chair?"

She nodded and climbed up, Calum taking the information from their mum.

"Do you brush your teeth on your own?"

"Sometimes,"

"Well that's very clever! Does mummy do it most of the time?"

"Two times a day,"

"Very good. Can you put these glasses on for me so that my big light doesn't hurt your eyes?"

"What's that for?"

"When I'm counting all your shiny teeth, I can't do it properly in the dark,"

She nodded and put the glasses on, holding onto the toy Calum passed her.

"Is this your first time at the dentist?"

"Yes, but they took photos of our teeth,"

"Well, I'm going to use my mirror and explorer to count your teeth. I need you to open really wide for me,"

I turned the light on and moved it since I wasn't laying them down all the way.

"You are doing amazing,"

She stayed still, even letting me use the hand scaler. On their first appointment, if it needed using, we chose to save the hassle of swapping. She started to whine, Calum holding her hand.

"I'm just cleaning off some stuff stuck to your teeth which we don't want,"

"It's shaky,"

"That's because it doesn't want to get off, but don't talk hun,"

After I polished and flossed, I gave her a sticker, replacing the tools.

"That was really brave, thankyou sweetheart,"

"I did good?"

"You were really good, yeah. I think it's your sisters turn now,"

"But I have a hurting tooth," she said quietly, her bottom lip sticking out.

"I'm gonna make it all better, you even get some special medicine to make you feel relaxed,"

She climbed onto the seat and I lowered it enough for the gas, gently rubbing her cheek as it set in. She reached out for someone's hand and Calum took it, holding them both on her stomach.

"Can you open wide for me? That's it,"

Cal put some glasses over her eyes and I still checked her teeth, using the hand scaler again.

"All this stuff I'm scraping off causes these poorly teeth, so when you and mummy brush together you need to be extra careful,"

Like her sister, she didn't like this part, but she showed that through holding Calum's hand tightly.

"How do you make them better?"

"I use some water that sprays out really fast and scares all the mean bits away. Then, I clean it and put some nice tooth back. You can watch a film if you wear these headphones,"

Calum out them on her and I added some numbing gel, polishing her teeth, glad for a little cooperation. When Cal passed the needle over, he took both her hands and started to rub small circles over them.

"Okay Jasmine. I need to put some sleepy medicine in now, so can you bite down on this block and stay super still?"

"Okay,"

I put a mouthblock in and took the needle, gently wiggling her lip as I did the first shot. It went okay, Calum deciding to rub small circles on her cheeks instead.

However, the second shot made her a little restless, and she started whining.

"No, your doing so good,"

"Almost done, they're almost sleepy," Calum said, "you are braver than me!"

She started crying and I assumed she hadn't really taken the gas in at all. Calum grabbed a tissue and wiped her tears, tickling her chin.

"All done, that was so good,"

"You need to breath through your nose for a few moments okay?" I said, taking out the mouthprop, "otherwise the magic doesn't work,"

We waited until the numbing was bound to have set in to start the filling, beginning to get more resistance.

She moved her head away and shook it when we encouraged her, about to burst into tears when we continued.

"You are my bravest patient today, it's only a tiny bit longer. Why don't you keep watching the film?"

"I don't like it,"

"I know you don't, but this could make you sick!" Calum said, putting his own gloves and mask on.

"We need to spray all the mean bits away, and if you keep moving then I might accidentally spray some good away,"

The cavity wasn't deep, but essentially needed three different fillings. Understandably, she was a little tetchy, but she got more into the film as we went on.

"Both of them had a lot of build up behind their teeth, so that's an area to brush more," Calum said to their mum, "it's looking good though,"

"Don't look at the blue light,"

We set the fillings and I made sure you could still floss, sitting the chair up.

"That was so good,"

"I don't want that next time,"

"If you do some super brushing, they'll be nice and shiny next time,"

Calum gave her a sticker and a toy, all of them leaving. I checked my phone and saw Ava had told me to have a good day and smiled, sending her love hearts back.

Calum looked over my shoulder then perched his head on it, wrapping his arms around me.

"I'm excited for her to have a brother,"

"Me too," I smiled, "after everything, I think she deserves to meet him. What did confuse me was why they seemed to know about her, but we never knew about him,"

"He's had a lot of people look at his file, someone was bound to notice,"

"After her last home, she has no more hope. She waves in and out of it, but is out of it a lot. I just think that for her to have a brother, one person who she will see as always protecting her, it means so much. We keep saying everything will change, but at the end of the day, it's gonna be for the good and I know it,"