Dentist Visits For All
Monkey went last week. She chose to begin going to the dentist Buds and I are using, and I was proud of her self-possession and maturity. A couple small cavities to be taken care of that are on teeth she’ll lose, but on the side that touches a permanent tooth. It was interesting talking with the dentist about the appointment to take care of the cavities. I asked him what I should tell her to expect; a shot, laughing gas, etc.
He said, “Well, definitely don’t mention a shot, and tell her we’re just getting rid of the sugar bugs, and we’ll be fine.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant so I said, slowly, “Will…there…be…a…shot?”
“There will be a shot.”
“Well, then, I’ll tell her that so we can talk about it, and she’ll be fine.”
Jeesh…sugar bugs, and as if I’d lie to my child. I like this dentist a lot, but he is young in many ways. Ah well, I shall teach him the path of the Peaceful Parent.
Then, today, Buster and Yessa had their appointments. They both were amazing. Buster is pre-disposed to plaque build-up, no matter what we do. He’s also our most “sensorily aware” child, so the scraping of the metal pick on his teeth was making his skin itch and giving him goose bumps, but he was fantastic. Yessa and I were in with him, and Melissa, the dental tech., did really well with being respectful, but also trying to get done quickly.
No cavities for either of these two, which was a blessing. The new dentist we tried out last year had said that Yessa had 5 cavities, but I didn’t feel a strong degree of trust with them, so we came back to our previous pediatric dentist. Voilà, no cavities, or at least so small they could no longer be seen.
The funny moment today came when we were walking across the parking lot to the car.
One of the issues I have with this dentist is the “be good and you’ll get a gold token,” but it isn’t a battle I’ve chosen to fight in this one area of our life. So, the kids get to pick a tattoo, sticker, balloon, or to have their nails painted. (The tech didn’t offer Zachary the option of having his nails painted, but I did…she laughed, thinking I was kidding.) Then they also get the gold token to put in the vending machine in the lobby for a little trinket (ninja and ring today).
Yessa picked nail painting, though she really, really wanted a balloon, too. Buster picked a balloon. As we walked across the parking lot, Yessa kept stressing to Zachary how important it was for him to hang on to his balloon so it didn’t float away. He heeded her warning and kept a death grip on his end of the ribbon, and he happily bounced the balloon as he walked.
The ballon came untied from the top end of the ribbon, and he was left holding a limp ribbon in his hand. We all had a moment of shock, then stood and watched the orange balloon float impossibly high up toward the sun. I’ve never seen a balloon go so high. It was pretty fascinating.
We agreed next time we’d put our email address on any balloons so we could hear from the finder.
