1st Trip to the Dentist

Today we had our long awaited first trip to the dentist. We were supposed to go back in March and then the boys were vomiting and then we rescheduled and then we had to reschedule again so we've been waiting for awhile. I decided to take them to a pediatric dentist so it's about a 40 minuted drive there but I think it will be worth it because she is great. We got there on time ( a feat for me these days...) and the boys played with the toys in the waiting room for a few minutes until we were called back. One tiny pet peeve- there are no adult size chairs in the toy area of the waiting room so where exactly are the parents supposed to sit?!?!?!

We headed back to the exam room and discussed their histories. She recommended getting our well water tested for fluoride to make sure that the boys aren't getting too much fluoride so we'll have to see about that. I'm supposed to brush James' teeth after he nurses in the middle of the night...mmm let me think- NO WAY! Luckily he has been sleeping through the night. And we are supposed to brush 2x daily and floss daily. The brushing ok but I really don't know about flossing my toddlers teeth daily- it is really worth the battle? Especially for teeth that are just going to fall out anyway? Between getting dresses and brushing and ear drops at bedtime I don;t know if I can handle adding flossing to the mix too. We'll give it a whirl I guess.

James got examined first and he did awesome. He opened his mouth pretty well and did let her clean his teeth. He wasn't so wild about the flossing but he didn't completely clench his mouth shut like I know he can so I guess we'll call it a success. He was pretty excited about picking out a toy when he was done though- he picked the biggest truck they had in their toy bin! She told us that we should starting saving for orthodontic for James b/c he has a lot of crowding of his teeth. Him and his giant chompers!!! She's not concerned with the fact that he is still missing teeth (none of his canines have come in yet) so we'll just wait for them to come for now.

Xander went next after a short potty break and he did ok although he was much less cooperative. She tried to get him to sit on his own. James sat in my lap and leaned back into hers for a "lap to lap" exam and she was trying to get Xander without me but he wasn't buying it. So then we switched to a lap to lap exam and he wasn't so sure about that either. He did let her clean and floss but she had to work harder for it. He picked the smallest truck he could find out of the toy bin! I think they were most excited by the stickers though- they both wanted them on their shirts before we even left the exam room. All in all it went fairly well and we'll see what happens when we go back in 6 months.