A Day in the Life of a MOMgienist

Let's welcome our first MOMgienists Blog Contributor, Amy!

Today was a good day. It’s Friday, my clinical day went smooth, slow but smooth. We don’t have much planned for the weekend ahead, which is nice as sometimes we have too much going on. My boys are out watching the local high school boys basketball game, and I just put my daughter to bed and walked out of her room...for the 5th time! Netflix is on pause, again, and I’m hoping the dog didn’t taste my wine, I really should put it on the counter when I walk out of the room.

I’m hoping that I’ll finally get through the documentary on traveling photographers, something the rest of my family wouldn’t sit through, and finish up some paperwork for my nursing home dental hygiene project. I don’t get much done between frequent visits to my daughter’s room, distractions of emails, text messages, and Facebook. 

Before I know it my boys are back home and my son looks distraught. He smiles at me slightly, and I see what every MOMgienist fears, a broken front tooth! He’s only 10 and just started ortho. It is what it is, and we will deal with it however it comes, but my mommy heart broke a little when my mind zoomed ahead 20 years. How many times will we have to replace the filling, is the tooth going to die and need a root canal, will we be able to veneer it, will it need a crown? His home care at 10 is terrible! If that doesn’t improve, how many crowns will he have to replace, will he get an implant or a bridge some day? Why the front tooth? He doesn’t seem too bothered by it other than anticipating what my reaction will be. We’ll visit my office later this week to survey the damage and figure it out. In the mean time, I asked if I could call him Snaggle Tooth, his facial expression was all I needed to know that wasn’t going to be acceptable. He is my dental experiment, with supernumerary primary and permanent teeth, ortho, and broken front tooth. I only hope that this means my daughter will be off the hook for those experiences.

Despite the last two hours of today, I still would categorize this as a “good” day. There is always an opportunity for growth and learning, especially when we are faced with challenges. Today, I am growing in my patience and learning little is really in my control, except where I place my wine!

About the Author:

Hello, Amy here, fellow mom and hygienist. I have an amazing family that supports me in all my adventures. I’m a wife of 13 years, a mom of 10 years plus 4 years (because let’s face it, each child is different and my parenting for the first doesn’t work for the second, so I add them together for collective parenting experience!), hygienist for 6, dental field for 11. We make our home in South Dakota where we enjoy camping, hunting, 4-wheeling, going to the park, walking the dogs, soaking up the sun. The rest of the year I grudgingly wear layers to shovel the driveway and stare out the window dreaming of summer! I currently practice clinically part time, am starting a preventive dental hygiene care service in a local long term care facility (read about my adventures here at DentistryIQ), and parent the rest of the time. I hope to inspire, encourage, entertain, and help grow people through any of my insights. I look forward to letting you peek inside my days.