Page 80 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

The minute she pulled Molly’s lower lip down, she saw the swollen and red gum around two of her bottom front teeth, almost in the front, then looked on the inside.

She touched the tooth and gums. “Ouch,” Molly whimpered. “Right there.”

“Well,” she said as cheerfully as she could, even though it looked painfully swollen with a little bit of pus. “Found the infection. Which is a good thing for sure.” Not so good that this was most likely going to hurt, but she could treat it and send them home.

“What is it? Her tooth?”

“Come here,” she said to Molly’s mom. “She’s got what looks to be something stuck between her two teeth. Maybe food. I’ll get it out, but it became infected. Maybe her body was fighting it last night and it just appeared now. Did your tooth hurt last night, Molly?”

The little girl shook her head. “No. And I was eating before I didn’t feel good.”

“She ate a big lunch with no problems. She didn’t start running a fever for a few hours after.”

“I’m going to get some dental floss. If you can be a good girl and let me try to get it out, it will relieve some of the pressure and pain, and then I can give you some medicine to swish around in your mouth and more to take for a week. You should be able to go home.”

“Really?” Molly asked.

She turned to Molly’s mother. “I’m going to want you to call the office on Monday and bring her in to be checked, or if you prefer, call her dentist to get in. If she can’t get in there Monday, then we’ll see her to assure the infection is getting better, but she still should see the dentist to make sure there isn’t anything else I’m not able to see.”

“I can do that.”

“I don’t like the dentist,” Molly wailed.

“Well, sweetie, few people do. But you know what? If you flossed daily like I think they tell you to do, you would have gotten this when it happened.”

Gabriela left to find floss, which proved to be a harder thing than she imagined and had to get help from a nurse.

There was some lecturing going on between Molly and her mother when she returned, but there was no reason to harp on it now.

“Is it going to hurt?” Molly asked.

“It might. I can’t promise it won’t, but we’ve got to get it out. Can you open wide for me?”

Molly opened her mouth, gripped her mother’s hand and she slid the floss in, wiggled out what she thought it was and kept going while the child flinched but held as steady as she could.

The bubble of pus popped while she was at it, saving her from having to go back in to take care of that.

She wiped away that mess and the blood, had Molly swish her mouth out a few times, then they were done.

There were a lot of tears over that. Maybe some on her part over the smell.

But all things considered, it could have been worse.

“What is that?” Molly’s mother asked of the particle she’d taken out of her daughter’s mouth that she’d laid on a napkin.

“Some kind of fruit peel maybe?” She was trying not to look too closely.

“I had an apple a few days ago,” Molly said.

Days? Did the kid not brush her teeth?

“Now we know the importance of brushing and flossing twice a day. I’m going to get her script written and you can fill it right at the pharmacy here before you leave. We’ll give her one dose through her IV to get her started.”

“She doesn’t swallow pills yet.”

“Not a problem.” She typed into the computer. “Sent off. It should be ready by the time we get Molly discharged. Which still could be an hour or more, but we will get her out of here.”

“Thank you so much,” Molly’s mom said. “I hope you get to spend some time with your family today.”