Dental Adventure
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Health on Thursday, March 11, 2010 11:13 PM
Today was a big day for our three-year-old: her very first dentist appointment.
I was not expecting it to go well. That is putting it mildly. Camilla is cautious and does not like to try new things. I’ve seen her upset to the point of throwing up at the prospect of having her hair washed. By her own mother. In her own home.
She was at the dentist with my husband and me for our last cleaning six months ago, and she refused to consider even watching us get our own teeth cleaned. I had reservations about scheduling an appointment for Camilla even at her current age of three-and-a-half, but the dentist promised they wouldn’t push her and that if it didn’t happen, we’d just wait another six months and try again. So we put it on the calendar. March 11th.
Camilla woke up grumpy this morning and didn’t want to go anywhere, let alone somewhere where they might poke at her teeth. (We’d read every book on “going to the dentist” that we could find in the library’s children’s section, so she had an idea what was coming.) Eventually we got her out the door with a mixture of firmness and patient coaxing, and she cheered when she realized she was going on a solo outing with Mama and Daddy, a rare treat.
When we got to the dentist’s office: a moment of hesitation, and then - miraculously - Camilla was willing to watch us get our teeth cleaned. It got better from there. Parts of the process were apparently hilarious to her, as well. Inexplicably, she squealed with delight every time the dentist stuck the small mirror in Bryan’s or my mouth.
We talked about it, and she was excited to get her teeth shined so that she would look pretty. The dentist, a kindly maternal woman, offered Camilla a princess toothbrush. She’d soon have newly cleaned “princess teeth” to match! She was calm and happy about the prospect.
A few minutes later, seated on my lap, wearing the bib and holding an extra one of the little mirrors in her own hand, she was less certain. The friendly tooth-doctor let us all feel the vibrating tip of the tooth-polishing brush against our fingers. It felt much like the spin-brush Camilla uses at home. But still, at the prospect of having the dentist clean her teeth, she burrowed her face into my chest. For a moment I was sure that Camilla would be walking out of there without having baring her pearly whites for even a moment in that chair.
But the dentist - bless her heart - was persistent without being pushy, and my baby girl gathered her courage and opened her lips a tiny bit, just enough for the tip of the tooth-polisher to touch her front teeth. From that point, we were golden. She realized that it didn’t hurt and that the polishing paste tasted good, and she willingly opened her mouth more widely to get her back teeth cleaned, too.
For me, as mother and person in charge of dental hygiene, the best moment was when that little mirror went inside Camilla’s mouth, and the dentist scanned her teeth, smiled at me, and said, “Everything looks good.”
My little girl went to the dentist! Successfully! From where I stand, things do look very good.
When did your kids first go to the dentist? And how did it work out?
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