AS I mentioned in a previous entry Steve was not in a good foster home he came to us with severe lice, no clothes that fit and not potty trained at the age of three. When the boys came to live with us we gave them a few months to adjust to being with us and to learn to trust us. We set up a dentist appointment for both boys, George only had a few teeth but Steve had all his baby teeth.
When the dentist examined him he asked why we had not taken care of our sons teeth. He went on to say that Steve had severe decay on 6 teeth that he would have to file off and then cap with silver caps until his teeth fell out. He also had to pull 2 teeth that were beyond saving. He looked at us like we were the worst parents in the world to have let our sons teeth get into the condition that they were in. When we explained that we were only his parents for a few months he quickly apologized for his rush to judgment.
He wanted to start the dental work as soon as possible, he went onto explain that they would have to put him on a papoose and they would give him a little laughing gas. I was not sure what a papoose was so he explained it was a board that as a jacket type thing over it and it would hold him still while they filed his teeth down and put the caps on. I was very worried about having this done to him because we did not know his total history yet and we did not know what types of abuse he had endured. The dentist assured me it was the only way to do it where he would not get hurt.
That day was probably one of the worst days I ever experienced and I was just watching. Luckily for me he does not remember it. We told him he had special star teeth now because they sparkled like the stars. He did very good with the papoose, filing and getting the caps I think he did better than I did.