"We blocked off the rest of the afternoon for him."
"Is he really that afraid," I ask watching the pediatric dentist click through his file on the computer.
"Yeah," she says realizing that I am about to see the hardships of pediatric dentistry, "usually we have to use nitrous oxide."
He has glasses and a love for spider man. Unfortunately, he also has fear of needles, which makes for numbing a long process. He sits in the chair ready with his favorite stuffed animal clutched to his chest.
The dentist and her assistant assemble their positions beside him, "At least you got to miss gym class, right?"
Surprisingly, he is very talkative to everyone. The assistant asks what movie he wants to watch. He says High School Musical 2. Good choice, I think to myself. Everything is calm until its time to bring out the numbing shot.
He starts crying and even choking from hyperventilating. The dentist, however, remains calm and his mom assures him to go get ice cream afterwards. She puts gives a silly mask to cover his nose that has oxygen slowly hissing through. The song Bet On It plays in the background, I watch Zac Efron prance around on the golf course as suctioning and small whimpering from him continues to fill the exam room.
It wasn't long before the cavity was finally filled. There was a moment where I was unsure if he was going to endure the appointment. His tear stained cheeks are long forgotten as soon as he gets up from the dental chair and leaves the iconic butterfly room. He still looks like the same elementary school boy that walked into the room. He waves goodbye with his toy still gripped in his sweaty hands, except the only difference is that he has a smile too.
