The First Tooth Cleaning

Today was Grace's first trip to the dentist office and it went pretty well. By that I mean there was no crying, hysterics, or tantrums by anyone involved. The dental hygienist was really great and did a good job working with her to get her to do (or attempt) what she wanted her to do. She managed to get one x-ray picture of the front of Grace's teeth which she said was great for her age. Grace did NOT care for sitting in the big chair once she found out that it had to be reclined for them to reach her teeth, so she did most of the cleaning standing up or on the hygienist's lap. She let her "tickle" one tooth with the cleaner and let her brush bubblegum flavored vitamins (fluoride) on her teeth and used the straw to suck it up. She really liked the straw. After that the dentist came and I helped to hold her so she could look in her mouth and check her teeth. She said everything looked good but we need to start flossing her teeth once a day. She must have noticed the look on my face because then she showed me the tool we can use to accomplish this seemingly impossible task so we'll give it a try tonight. We go back in six months and will try to do a little more cleaning next time, but the main goal is to make her comfortable going to the dentist. Since she had no cavities she got to pick out an electric toothbrush and is super excited about her Winnie the Pooh toothbrush. As soon as we got to the car she said "I want to go home and brush my teeth!" which I'm sure is music to her dentist's ears.