First Unofficial, And Official, Dentist Visits

Right after Jack turned 4 (and by right after, I mean the day after!), he tripped and fell at Knott's Berry Farm and nearly knocked out his front tooth. 

I kept an eye on it and it seemed to be healing just fine!  Unfortunately the tooth next to that one took us by surprise and became discolored after a few weeks... apparently the trauma to the first tooth was so obvious that the tooth that was actually damaged flew under the radar!  When I realized that his other tooth had been injured I took him to the dentist to have it checked.  It wasn't my plan to have Jack's first dentist visit be an emergency dentist visit, but it actually worked out pretty well!  Jack was so nervous for the dentist, but once I got him to sit in the x-ray chair and let them take one x-ray, he did a great job!  He was very relaxed when he was talking to the dentist, and I was so proud of him!  And, as it turns out, Jack's tooth is fine- the trauma it sustained  was permanent in that it will remain discolored (and actually it's not that badly discolored at all... sort of like a lightly bruised apple), but there was no fracture and we don't need to take any action other than to let nature take its course.  The tooth is a baby tooth, so it should fall out in a year and his adult tooth behind it is just fine.  So, Jack's first unofficial dentist visit was easy peasy, and it was a great prelude to Jack's first official dentist visit- full x-rays and cleaning- which I took him to last week!

Since he had just been to the dentist he wasn't nervous this time!

Jack and I had back-to-back appointments, so he got to watch me before it was his turn.  This served two purposes.  First, Jack was able to see that everything was okay because mommy was doing great.  Second, mommy- who has had dentist anxiety since she was a young child and has never really been able to conquer her completely rational fear, and has been known to cry uncontrollably because she didn't like the taste of the nasty bubblegum flouride as well as lie to the dentist that she already had her turn in the chair, hoping to get away without a cleaning for another 6 months (though in her defense, she was 7- I think!)- was forced to suck it up and put on a brave front so that Jack would see that going to the dentist was no big deal.  

There is nothing quite like having a little 4 year old voice piping in with "You're doing a really good job, momma, I am so proud of you!" to calm you down while you have 2 people leaning over you with dental instruments in your numb mouth as you start to ponder whether the numbness of your throat is because of the Novocaine or because your uvula got swallowed up by the spit-sucker.  

But anyway...

Jack did a great job!!!  

He was an old pro at the x-rays

I thought his x-rays were one of the coolest thing I've ever seen- I love that you can see his adult teeth coming in above his cute little baby teeth!

Jack was excited to sit in the cool chair that went "up and down and down and up!"

And he did an amazing job letting the dentist check out his teeth!  I was so proud of him (if I had a penny for each time I've said that I could pay for his college already!)

Jack passed his exam with flying colors!  I was so relieved- I don't want my kids to have even a fraction of the anxiety I have had about the dentist and Jack is on a great path so far!  He was such a brave kid- much braver than I ever was!!!