This may look like successful teeth-brushing. It's not. It's Audrey running her toothbrush under the faucet, sucking the water off the brush and repeating that for 5 minutes until I intervene and try to get some teeth brushed. That involves chasing her around the house, pinning her down, trying to play games like, "1...2...3...open up!" and usually ends with 2 teeth brushed, a tantrum, and me lecturing her about cavities and baby root canals and how they are skyrocketing because kids "these days" are eating and snacking all day long and well, Brian Williams told me so on the Nightly News so it must be true.
Which is why Audrey has her first dentist appointment next week. Apparently this is another one of my mom fails and I was supposed to start taking her at 12 months, like the pediatrician said...I didn't listen, primarily because MY dentist told me to wait until she was 3. But then I saw the Nightly News piece and got all freaked out and so we're going next week.
We're going to a pediatric dentist that plays cartoons on the ceiling while you get your teeth cleaned, does manicures for the little girls and all kinds of fun distracting stuff. Unfortunately, we seem to have the worst health and dental insurance on planet Earth, so I'll be paying for all of this out of pocket. When I called up our insurance plan to have them fax over the necessary forms for the appointment they informed me that they don't cover any pediatric dentistry - at all. Um, okay. That's helpful. Of course the hubs and I got into a little argument over this because he wants me to take her to our adult dentist (for some reason then it's covered) but I'm insisting that for the first visit we go the pediatric route. Teeth-brushing is enough of a battle, I don't need to make things worse by terrifying her with her first visit, right? And these people are supposed to teach me how we can actually get more than 2 teeth cleaned, which seems to be some sort of holy grail info that I can't figure out.
And hey, I need a manicure too.
Kidding!
(Sort of.)
Ummm... Should I even admit that my 3 year old has NEVER been to the dentist and her momma has a mouth full of cavities? Her first appointment is next week. We are in this together...
ReplyDeleteWhat they reported in Nightly News is actually correct; it’s ideal to bring a child to the dentist for the first time at around 12-18 months old, at least for a check-up and to make sure there are no cavities or infections. So how did Audrey do in her first visit to the dentist? I hope Audrey has since learned the benefits of brushing her teeth correctly. Did the dentist show her the dental instruments and give her a new toothbrush afterwards?
ReplyDeleteTrinidad Philipps