Living with my greatest fear.

~Chapter 7~

Grant's POV:

The door to the clinic opens and I immediately look up. I'm so relieved when I see Tobey and Ellie. I'm so glad that Tobey managed to get Ellie to come into the clinic. We don't have as much time now for her to get her cavity filled but I think we have enough time.

"Hey, Ellie. Are you okay now?" I ask her.

"Hmm..I think so. I suppose I have to be," she responds quite sadly.

"You don't have to be okay, Ellie. I know you're scared but I didn't want to get angry with you and say something that I may regret later. I wanted to be on good terms with you whilst I filled your cavity."

"I mean thanks for not getting angry at me. I just find it scary and quite difficult."

"Yeah, I know, princess. Do you want to come back with me and we can get it over and done with?"

"I guess so...Tobey, will you come with me?"

"If you want me to then, of course I will!" says Tobey, happy that Ellie has gained some trust in him.

We go back to my exam room and I ask Ellie to take a seat on the dental chair whilst I set myself up. She sits down on the chair, albeit reluctantly, but I'm glad she sat down. Tobey is sitting on the chair in the corner of the room. Ellie turns to me and asks, "Grant, can Tobey come and sit by the side of me?"

"Of course he can, princess. Tobey, do you want to move and sit on the left hand side of E?"

"Sure, mate!"

I sort out myself a mask and a pair of gloves. I place the pair of gloves on the tray with the tools. It's probably a good idea that Ellie wants Tobey to sit with her because I can ask him to help me if I need it. I sit down on my chair and move myself to the right hand side of Ellie, so she can see me.

"Alright, Ellie. I'm going to recline the chair back now, okay?"

"Mhm..."

"You okay, E?" I ask her.

All I got in response was a nod. I decided not to recline the chair back because I don't think Ellie is okay. I think she's really nervous.

"Ellie, love, tell me what's wrong."

"I'm just nervous, that's all. I want this all over and done with. Can you just start now? I don't wanna be here any longer."

"I'll only start when you give me a proper yes. I don't want to start when you're not 100% ready. I'll ask you again. Are you ready for me to start?"

"Yeah, as ready as I'll ever be."

"Okay, E, I'll recline the chair back now."

As the chair is reclining, I pull the tray towards her head, move myself so her head is effectively on my lap, and I put my mask under my chin and my gloves on my hand. I forgot that Ellie tenses when she hears my gloves so I apologise to her. I put my mask above my nose and opened up the bag of sterilised tools. I get out the mirror and explorer and bring my hands towards Ellie's mouth.

"Ellie, can you open up for me, love?"

She opens her mouth for me and I start having a quick look around her mouth and having a look at her tooth with the cavity. It doesn't look like it has gotten much bigger, which is a very good thing. I take my tools out of her mouth and put them on the tray.

"Alright, E, I'm going to start to numb you up now, okay?"

She nodded. I get some topical gel on a cotton bud and ask her to open her mouth, which she does, and then I put the gel around the gumline of the tooth.

"You're going to have to sit like that for a while, okay?"

She nodded, again.

*3 MINUTES LATER*

"Okay, princess, I'm going to numb your tooth now. I promise it won't hurt. There'll only be a bit of pressure as the medicine goes into your gum but that's it, okay?"

She nods, again. I don't blame her for just nodding, having part of your gum numb isn't much fun.

I prepared the needles just earlier, so they were ready to go when I needed them.

"Open nice and wide for me, baby," I say with the needle in my hand. "Just a bit of pressure..." I see Ellie reach out to Tobey for his hand to squeeze. "Almost there, love, 10 more seconds." I feel so bad doing this to my sister but I want to help her, and if this is what I have to do then so be it. "All done, E. Well done! I'm proud of you!" Ellie doesn't say anything; she just nods her head. "We're going to let that sit for a couple of minutes, so you are completely numb when I go to fill your cavity." She nodded again.

*5 MINUTES LATER*

"I'm just going to check if you're numb now, sweetheart, okay?"

She nods again.

"Open up for me, love."

I take my explorer and gently poke around her gum line to see if she could feel it.

"Can you feel this, E?"

I take my explorer out of her mouth because I figure she would either nod or shake her head. Once I've taken it out, she shakes her head.

"Okay, I'm going to start now. Raise your hand if you want me to stop and you can squeeze Tobey's hand if you feel as though you need or want to. "

She just nods again.

I put a mouth prop in Ellie's mouth so she doesn't have to keep her mouth open. I get my drill and turn it on just for a brief moment to make sure there's power going to it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ellie tense up. Probably because she didn't know that there was going to be a drill. I didn't want to tell her because I didn't want her to freak out over it.

"Poppet, you're fine. He isn't going to hurt you with it. You're in safe hands," Tobey says, reassuring Ellie that there is nothing to worry about.

"He's right, E, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to take the cavity away."

She just nods and I can see her sort of relax.

"I'm going to keep going, okay?"

She nods, again.

I drill part of her tooth away and then I fill it with some composite resin. I shape it to the shape of her tooth and then take all of the tools away from her mouth. I sit her up and take my gloves and mask off. I stand up from my chair and stand behind the dental chair. I place my hands on her jawbone. "E, can you open your mouth for me, please?" "And close." "And open." "And close." "Thank you, love"

Ellie just smiles at me. I smile back at her.

"You're all done! Well done, Ellie. I'm so proud of you!", I say to her.