The Skinny on the Molloy Family: The Dazzling Dentist

(Please note the fashion choice - she picked it herself!)

Last week, Elise had her first ever dentist visit! My pediatrician said that she should go sometime between the ages of 2 and 3, but with her extreme stranger anxiety issue last summer and then the baby coming in September, we kept putting it off. However, the advantage to putting it off was that it gave us plenty of time to play up how amazingly awesome it is to go to the dentist.

Ever since I made the appointment several months ago, we have talked - almost daily - about how fun it is to go to the dentist, what the dentist is going to do and how the dentist will give her a special gift of some sort. (I was making up the gift thing really, because I didn't know for sure, but I figured if nothing else she'd get a toothbrush because I get one.) We read books about the dentist, watched episodes of Elmo's World that revolve around the dentist and made all of her Little People experience dentist visits. In fact, we were raving about the awesomeness of the dentist so much that I was even convincing myself that it's super cool to go the dentist. It really is fun! You really do get fun gifts! As the time got closer, she would say almost every night before bed "Do I get to go to the dentist tomorrow?!" She was so excited. We did a really effective job making it seem like a fun adventure.

The appointment fell on a day that Ellie was at home with Oma and Opa, and I swung by the house after work to pick her up. Oma put her in an adorable dress (that she got from Shoshana - thank you!) and she looked absolutely precious. It also helped add to the 'special' day. She was a little nervous, but mostly just excited. I made her appointment at my dentist, so I was actually a little nervous myself. My dentist has a family practice and definitely sees kids, but he's not a pediatric dentist specifically, so I wasn't sure how good they would be with little kids, especially ones like my daughter who are a little wary of people they don't know. She cruised around the waiting room, checking out the fish tank, the toys and the other waiting patients until we were ready to go back. She insisted that I go first, and she settled into the chair next to me watching while I got my teeth cleaned. She did not at all seem intimidated by the room or the gadgets, as I thought she might be, but she just kind of hung out quietly watching. The hygienist worked really hard the entire time to engage Ellie in conversation, but she wasn't having any of it. I think she was a little put off by the mask.

When my cleaning was done, Ellie asked if I could sit with her while she got her teeth done, so she just sat on my lap for her cleaning. She did really well while the hygienist counted her teeth (she has 20 teeth - one is apparently coming in right now). But then she cried a little bit when the hygienist started cleaning her teeth with the electric toothbrush - I think she just didn't like the noise, as she's pretty sensitive to sounds - so the hygienist just brushed her teeth with the electric toothbrush without turning the motor on. I am pretty sure that's not as effective, but really it was more important that she have a positive first experience than anything else. After the brushing, she put "raspberry flavored vitamins" on her teeth with a q-tip and the Dentist came in to check things out and lavishly praise Ellie about how brave she is and how she takes such great care of her teeth.

Ellie and Oma

Then came the really fun part. Ellie got to pick out a new toothbrush (she picked a pink Princess toothbrush - had I not literally not pulled this child out of me I'd swear she wasn't mine!) and toothpaste (sparkle bubble gum flavor), as well as some floss (regular), a balloon (purple), a toy ring (chose sparkly purple star and keeps saying to me "Mommy, we both have diamond rings!") and another toy from the toy box (she chose a squishy ball with hard pellet balls inside because she thought it was candy and was then sorely disappointed to discover that she couldn't eat it). We hauled all her loot to the car and talked about how amazingly fun it was to go to the dentist. Despite the electric toothbrush thing, she is definitely bought in, and is excited to go again. Phew.