Look Mom! No Cavities!

Because I value oral hygiene and pretty teeth, I subjected myself to taking both of my kids to the dentist today. I must be a glutton for punishment. The Princess is old-hat at this dentist stuff. She’s gone every six months for a few years now, and handles it like a pro. This was Pumpkin’s first “real” checkup (not like the checkup last year because we thought her sole tooth might have gotten injured in a fall), and I warned the dental office that I didn’t think she would cooperate.

I was right.

The hygienist was optimistic though. She started out trying to position Pumpkin in this funky xray dealy bob (she stands with her chin positioned on the little chin rest, holds the handles and then the scanner revolves around her head). Yeah, I laughed too. After five minutes of telling Pumpkin where to put her hands, and having her stand on a box of garbage bags to make her tall enough, and telling her where to look…. as soon as the hygienist turned the machine on and it started revolving, OF COURSE, Pumpkin kept turning her head to see where it was going. Consequently, her x-ray was not at all clear, not at all useful (for anything other than my amusement). Back to the exam room where Pumpkin did NOT want to sit in the seat once the hygienist started reclining it. She was fine sitting. Reclined? Um, no thank you. She allowed the hygienist to count her teeth but that was about it.

The dentist then came in and checked her out (all looks good!) and was able to polish her teeth a bit. He stopped after three or four teeth though because she was getting fidgety. He said at her age, it’s best to let her get used to it, not make her mad, and not make her hate the experience. We decided to call it good – she’ll go again next year.

The Princess did a fantastic job – getting her teeth polished, flossed, xrayed, and a spiffy flouride treatment. They showed me this full mouth xray where I could see her little baby teeth and where the adult teeth were underneath them. The dentist pointed out which teeth would probably be the first ones she lost (her bottom two front teeth), and then told me that the little doohickey that connects the inside of her upper lip to her gum (does that thing have a name? I didn’t ask) would probably need “a procedure” at some point as it would cause her to always have a gap in her front teeth. She already has a gap in her baby teeth and HATES it, so I know it’s something we’ll do. He says it’s no big deal – it sounded similar to the clipping of the frenulum she had when she was a baby (She was tongue tied). He said that when we take her to her orthodontist for braces, the ortho would probably do it. Braces?! He said, “I could be wrong, but…. she’ll probably need them.” Dagnabbit!

So, the girls came home with prizes from the prize box, brand new toothbrushes and shiny smiles. And I came home with a monster charge on my credit card for the experience. Lucky me.