The Dentist.

I've always loved going to the dentist. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the free goodies, the missed school, or all the personal attention. Perhaps a combination of it all. Nowadays, while I do my best to make sure my daughter is excited about going I experience a bit of terror at the prospect. Not for my checkups, but hers. 

See, we made a big mistake between the age of 1 and 2. We allowed our beautiful daughter to develop a juice box habit and faltered at the regular tooth brushing. We knew it was wrong but it was oh so easy and made her oh so happy. These are not good excuses.  Her teeth looked lovely and white on the front and so  we remained ignorant of the decay that lurked in places we couldn't see. 

Flash forward 6 months from her first dental checkup and we're fighting the decay as hard as we can. Brushing twice a day, (brushing a toddler's teeth once a day is exhausting, twice is almost impossible but we try!) a fluoride gel every night, flossing, seeing the dentist every three months for regular checkups, the works. Today was her first cleaning since last July. 

Waiting to be called.

Exploring every inch of the waiting room.

Honestly? She was a star. A perfect child. I'm not sure I can brag on her enough. She was calm, patient, cooperative. The ideal patient. The plaque scraper tool, the spinning electric brush, the flossing. She did it all.  I'm pretty sure the hygienist even told her she was the best two year old she'd ever seen. (The best folks! Could be that they were just glossy platitudes designed to make mom and baby both happy - in which case it worked.) There was a bit of a fail when they tried to take x-rays. Jessica just couldn't get the white card to stay in place in her mouth but I'm pretty sure that's because she has a teeny tiny mouth and I'm not blaming her. They said they'd try next time. 

She still has the decay on the back of her front four teeth and two tiny cavities in her top molars but the rate of decay seems to have slowed down substantially. Dr. Kornstein said that he'd need to put her under general anesthesia to fix the front teeth but that it would really just be for cosmetic reasons. He also mentioned that any crowns he put on the front teeth were doomed to fail because of her bite. This was quickly followed up with an "if it was my daughter I'd see how long we can go before they need to be pulled and hopefully we can get close to when they'd fall out naturally." There we go. Better. I'm all for avoiding hospitalizing my daughter! He said there'd be no concern about spacing of the new teeth coming in and that we could fill the molars in office at some point since she is so cooperative. 

I had a mini heart-attack when I thought he was advocating full surgery. It's hard to hear that you've failed your child. After all, it's not Jessica's fault she didn't brush her teeth twice a day when she was one and half. Or that her Mommy gave her snack trap filled with cheddar bunnies everyday and allowed her one or... erm two of those evil boxes of juice every day. *hangs head in shame*

At least we'll know better for second baby. Poor 1st baby. ;)