The Great Tooth Debacle of 2011

This post is not to be confused with the Great Tooth Debacle of 2010, which I realize I didn't blog about. So, a little history. Before we moved Jack had gone to the dentist and had 2 cavities. He had them filled and he didn't have laughing gas. The experience was unmemorable. We move here and 6 months later he complains of a toothache. We didn't have dental insurance, so I just took him to a dentist I found on the web. They X-Ray and evaluate and tell me that he was 9 cavities!!! 9?! They kindly give me a quote for $1,400. *cough cough* I come home and panic a little. I then went online and signed us up for dental insurance. It was kind of lame insurance and we had very limited choices for dentists that took it. I called the closest one (which wasn't close at all) and made an appointment. Thus beginning the 2010 debacle. We went and Jack seemed ok at first. The dentist was very obese and old school. I had Hudson with me and there wasn't really anywhere for me to sit near Jack so I just had to keep checking on him and waiting in the waiting room.
Suddenly, Jack's not ok anymore. He's panicking. He's crying and screaming and hyperventilating, etc. The dentist had drilled out 4 of the teeth. I calm Jack down and the dentist puts this ring around the first tooth to fill it. In Jack's continuing panic, he somehow sucks the ring off the tooth and inhales it. Now he's choking. He can't breath. I was near his feet and he's clawing to sit up and staring at me like... "Mom!!! Help me!"
The dentist does nothing. No moves.
I jump up and pull him up and start to move behind to do the Heimlich when he coughs up the ring. So here's the problem. He can't leave because he has these big holes in his teeth from the drill. He has to lie back down and let the dentist finish. We left and vowed never to go back.
He still had 5 cavities to fill. I found a different dentist. Jack had a panic attack again at the new dentist, but no choking. We used laughing gas the next time and it was a MILLION times better.
This brings us to two weeks ago. Thursday night Jack tells me he has a pain in his mouth. I was busy and didn't really pay that much attention. After dinner was cleaned up I looked in his mouth and was shocked. He has this big pus pocket on his gums.
So, our regular, new, nice dentist doesn't work on Fridays. We had to go to another new guy. He tells me that the tooth has to be pulled. I try and discreetly tell him that Jack has high dental anxiety. Apparently, I was too discreet and should have shouted it out. We should have given him gas. He screamed, choked, sobbed and carried on. It was grueling. Don't worry, I had Hudson there and he peed through his pants and had to go around with no pants on. I made him a balloon out of a latex glove which he played with until it popped. THEN he put the popped glove on his hand and he kept running back into the room saying, "I fix Jackie's teeth." He would then try and get his hand into the action. I was sweating, the dentist was sweating. ugh.
If you've never seen a tooth pulled... it's ugly. The dentist kept stopping and coming to ask me if I wanted him to carry on, since Jack was so upset. What? We've come this far... press on. Finally it was over.