Thursday, December 3, 2009

Dora Didn't Help

I tried, really tried, to read the Dora Dentist book religiously so this first dental visit would go somewhat smoothly, but realistically I knew it would be all-out chaos. And it was.

Kyle and I had to double-team the visit so each twin had someone to hold her in the dentist's chair, but that barely helped. They screamed and screamed, eliciting lots of smirks between us and the dental hygienists about the productivity of today's visit. I would have waited until age three (like we did with Claire) but with Lily's teeth issues and all the teeth staining for both kids, we had to go earlier than is typically recommended. Our pediatrician encouraged us to go. So amidst all the screaming this morning, I learned a few things. Molly still turns and clings on a parent (in this case, Kyle), and Lily has unfortunately learned a new kicking and hitting habit and instead kicks and hits the offender (in this case, the poor dental hygienist). I was mortified, but am hoping it's not all that unusual. In the face of a doctor "authority figure" two of my kids (Claire and Molly) act scared but passive, so it's new for me to watch a kid be aggressive toward a doctor. It certainly indicates, again, the 180-degree differences in the twins.

Other than the need to brush more carefully (a battle, as both the twins don't like us to brush their teeth), Molly's teeth are fine. Lily is the one with the dental issues. Her narrow palate wouldn't be corrected until at the earliest age seven, but it's the damaged tooth and extra tooth I was most worried about. We obviously weren't able to do films, so without an x-ray, the dentist can't tell us if she has an extra adult tooth too. He said we'll work on getting that answer in the next 18 months. As for her damaged tooth, it's definitely damaged, which is why it is turning gray/brown. Basically, when she fell on her tooth on the sidewalk (noted here on the blog a few months back), she damaged it enough where blood is leaking into the tooth causing the discoloration. If it progresses (which is likely), then he will have to pull the tooth - it will be fully abscessed then. That will leave her with a hole in her mouth until the adult tooth comes in, which would take years. I don't like that idea one bit! Oh, the endless questions from the public ...

So tonight, I'll re-read the Dora Dentist book, and see what kind of reactions I get. And hope that another six months of maturity will bring us a much, much easier dental visit next time.

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