First Trip to the Dentist

Don't let this image of a calm, cool, collected 3-year-old sitting like a big boy in the dentist chair fool you for one minute...Whit wanted NOTHING to do with getting his teeth cleaned at his first dentist visit today! While the child absolutely loves for me to brush and floss his teeth (and doesn't argue with me about wanting to do it himself & usually reminds me if I forget), he wanted no part of the sweet (and very patient) hygienist's attempts at putting anything in his mouth.

We tried the old, "let her count your teeth" which worked for counting his bottom teeth but he wised up to our shenanigans before we could get to the top teeth...we let him look in the little mirror to see if he could in fact see his own teeth...we tried letting him pick out and taste the "yummy cherry toothpaste"...we tried tickling his knee, Mommy's teeth, his hands & any other body part he requested to show him that the spinning, buzzing brush only tickles and doesn't in fact hurt...we had a pep-talk the day before and the morning of the visit about how he was going to be a big boy and that the dentist was going to check his teeth and clean off all of the sugar bugs...we tried bribing him with the promise of a sticker and a prize from the dentist's prize box...I even tried reasoning with him, which apparently went in one ear and out the other...I held him in my lap, let him sit in various positions, tried distracting him with the "big flashlight" that hangs from the ceiling that they use to look inside his mouth...all to no avail.

Finally, he let the hygienist clean two of his teeth (his two front top ones) and he sort-of let her do fluoride on his teeth (she did it with her finger instead of the little miniature paintbrush). After that he was ready to go home and honestly I was so exhausted I was ready to go too! The dentist came in and looked inside of his mouth and told me that it would get easier each time he came to visit.

As a person who (oddly enough) loves to go to the dentist and who would get my teeth cleaned monthly if my insurance would just cover it, this broke my heart. My mostly fearless child just can't be afraid of the dentist!! Maybe this is just his strong-willed behavior coming out and surely once he warms up to the idea, he'll be as big of a fan as his Mama.

I guess we'll have to wait 6 months to find out!