Before we start this, let’s all go back and read about her last dentist visit, shall we?
Well, this visit was a total 180. She was compliant and well behaved and brave.
She had X-rays.
She actually did better at X-rays than I normally do. (I have a really strong gag reflex and I normally end up unintentionally spitting out at least one of the X-ray plates and have to have it done again.) (Of course, they only did two on her and only her front teeth.)
After the X-rays, she hopped down from the chair and informed the tech “that didn’t hurt at all!”
She opened her mouth willingly! For a stranger she had never met! For a strange MAN she had never met! (Elizabeth warms up to women much faster.) She doesn’t even open her mouth this well for me to brush her teeth every night.
She allowed him to do every single part of the cleaning. Every single part. The only part she had a problem with was the fluoride treatment and that is because it was a foam that he shoved around her mouth with his finger and she was gagging on it and frankly, I don’t blame her. You wouldn’t do that to an adult.
She thought the chair that went up and down was very cool and she liked wearing their sunglasses. (We brought her Ariel sunglasses with us, but she preferred theirs with the stripes.)
And when we were done, they gave her a bag of prizes! And they were a TOOTHBRUSH! WITH PRINCESSES! And a FLOSSER! (This is her favorite one. I do not know why.) And a tube of BABY TOOTHPASTE! (It is a baby toothpaste because it is smaller than a whole tube of toothpaste, duh.) And a STICKER. WHOA.
She walked around the whole waiting room and showed every kid there her toothbrush and flosser.
Then she gave me her sticker for “helping me be brave, Mama!” So I died of cuteness. Then she took the sticker away from me, stuck it on my stomach, and gave it to baby brother. So I died again.
(Picture is of my new Dora sticker and Elizabeth insisted on her precious flosser getting its picture taken too.)
All the credit for this excellent visit goes to Doc McStuffins and the dentist episode and the fact that I had a set of Doc McStuffins tools in the car that I told her she could choose one from if she didn’t cry.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Way to go Dibits!!!! GREAT job.. I don’t blame her on the flouride ugggg I hate that. They actually take a cotton swap and dab it on like a paint brush at her dentist office. The only make her keep it on for 30 seconds each round. They do a total of 4 rounds.
WHEW! What a relief that was for you!
The front office there sucks, but the rest of them are awesome! So glad Elizabeth had a good experience this time!
Much better! Yay for Dibits! And yay for mama having the foresight to have a bribe. :)
Bribes are awesome. And you did a smart one. I stupidly bribed S with a munchkin from dunkin donuts but forgot that you can’t eat for an hour after the fluoride treatments. Major mom fail.
Glad she did so well!
Yay Dibits!
And the sticker for baby brother, I die too!
Hooray for Dibits! She is too cute and sweet. (And Doc McStuffins rocks.)
Excellent! My son has a dentist appointment on Monday and daddy is taking. He’s so much better with daddy for these things, so that’s a good thing. When Spencer was 2.5 he fell off the toilet and broke his two front teeth. One was okay but the other splintered and caused an abscess and had to be pulled. It was horrifying. I took him for the pulling of the tooth, and his dad took him to the appointments where they fit him for a fake tooth to hold his place until the new one comes in.
Yay for a happy dentist visit!
To be honest, I would like the dentist a lot more if I got presents, too. And the little hexagon of floss they always give me at the end does not count as a present.
My mom, brother, and I all have extreme gag reflexes. When we all went to the same dentist, The Best Dental Hygienist Ever researched fixes and found that putting salt on the tip of one’s tongue suppresses the gag reflex long enough for x-rays. (This is why I had NO x-rays until I was 16. Surprisingly, nothing wrong with my teeth.) She would keep a little container of salt for us and it was great.
I’m, uh, still holding out. Permanent teeth.
Is it bad that I totally gagged just looking at the pictures?? I do not do well at the dentist… Good job, Elizabeth!!
Such an awesome job. And I melted with the stickers.