Our second try

This is Andrew after his very first dentist appointment in pretty good spirits after getting a cleaning for the first time.

This was our second try in trying to get him checked out at a dentist. Lets just say our first visit was at a family dentistry place that wasn't prepared for an Andrew. We left that visit with little information and we were both sad and worn out. Andrew wouldn't sit still or open his mouth for anything. Needless to say it was very hard and stressful. It was not something that I even wanted to try and attempt to do again any time soon.

It has taken me about 7 months since that last tough visit and this time I took him to a pediatric dentist that would be able to sedate him if necessary. I was a ball a nerves remembering the last visit and just hoping this would go a lot smoother. We arrived at 7:30am and Andrew was all over the place in the waiting room. He started off trying to unwrap some presents that they had as decoration and then moved on to a toy donation display where he saw something he liked and wanted. The ladies at the desk were friendly but you could tell they weren't exactly happy to see such an active child so early. They rushed us off to a room where a nurse helped to distract Andrew with the water squirter and suctioner thing while I filled out the paperwork.

The dentist came in and did a quick evaluation to find that Andrew has no cavities and would only need a cleaning. He opted for no sedation but that I hold him while he scrapped the build up off. It took about 15 minutes and he was such a big boy. He got upset when the scraper would hurt his gums but he did so well. The worst part was the watermelon fluoride that they brushed on in the end. This was his undoing and he cried. He kept telling me "yucky yucky mouth." He got some water to rinse and we were done. The nurse said she had seen much worse behavior and he did really well. Andrew got a red balloon and a toy for being such a big boy.

I'm so glad it is over with and that I finally got his teeth cleaned at age 4. It has been something that I've wanted to do for at least a year now. He had some build up on his bottom 4 teeth that made me feel bad and know I needed to get him in. It is such a relief and I'm very happy we are done for another 6 months. They of course want to see him regularly for his 2 cleanings to try and stay on top of any issues. It just feels really nice to be done with it. Yippeeee!!!