First Trip to the Dentist!

Today was Kendall's first ever dentist appointment! We have been looking at books about the dentist, talking about showing her our teeth, and promising lots of stickers and treats if Kendall did well. We were fully expecting her to not do well, and I thought that all she would be able to do today was an exam and not get to clean them. We were pleasantly surprised!!

Before we got out of the car, I had Kendall practice showing her teeth one more time. She was happy and excited about seeing the dentist!

We went to a pediatric dentist in Pearland that Sarah goes to. Mary highly recommended them, and we made a big deal to Kendall about this being the place Sarah gets her teeth cleaned. I was so impressed with them from start to finish. When we walked in the door, the receptionist was great with Kendall, and talked to her about her baby, and asked if she wanted a sticker. She asked Kendall what her favorite color was, and wrote her name on her sticker in that color. Kendall surprised me by saying, "Purple!" Who knew? The waiting room had lots of great toys and was painted with bright, fun colors. Toy Story was playing on the t.v. At one point the receptionist called Kendall back over to give her a sticker to take home to Sarah and to give her one for her baby. She asked what Baby's favorite color was, and Kendall said, "Purple!" again! So Baby got a sticker and we have one to take to Sarah.
Showing me Baby's sticker, while never taking her eyes off the movie!

While we waited, Kendall did a little cleaning. She was still totally happy at this point.

The nurse came out to get her and when she called her name, Kendall immediately started crying. I thought, "here we go!" She was great with her though and came and sat with her and talked about taking her back to the room. I told Kendall I was going to come with her and she was intrigued enough to stop crying and follow the nurse. She took us to a fun room with a beanbag chair, toys, and more fun murals on the walls. While Kendall played, she asked me some questions and told me what all they were going to do. She said they would do the exam and then try to do the cleaning, and that none of it would hurt, but that I could ask them to stop any time I got uncomfortable with how upset Kendall was getting. I was excited that they were going to try the cleaning - I thought we would have to come back a different day for that.

Before the hygenist came in, the nurse showed Kendall all the equipment they were going to use. She tried to have Kendall touch the toothbrush, but that made her cry, so she stopped.

Next, Kendall got to choose her flavor of toothpaste and that was a HUGE hit. She chose bubblegum and loved that it was pink. She still seemed excited about getting her teeth brushed!! The other thing they did back in this room was let Kendall choose a movie. She chose Dora and loved watching it the whole time.

I'm not sure if it was a coincidence, or if they chose this exam room especially for her, but everything in it was purple, like she said was her favorite. They called this the princess chair and she enjoyed sitting on it while we waited for the hygenist.

When the hygenist came in to do the cleaning, Kendall started crying a little, so she had me sit knee to knee with her, holding Kendall in my lap facing me. Then we laid Kendall back so that her head was on the hygenist's lap. I held her hands down and she cried, but she could still see Dora, so every once in awhile she would stop and just watch the movie. I can't brag enough about Jenny, the hygenist. She was GREAT with Kendall. She talked to her during the whole cleaning, and was so gentle with her. She cleaned all her teeth, scraped some, flossed, the whole nine yards. I was amazed. Kendall cried off and on when it would tickle, but overall she did really great. I think the whole process was less than 10 minutes. When she was finished, she got a bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss in it, and she sat in the chair and waited for the dentist to come see her.

Showing me her clean, sparkly teeth! Doesn't she look so big sitting in that chair?!

The dentist took a long time to come because she got held up in another room. Kendall was so great and so patient and just played and watched Dora. Anytime someone would come in the room, she would open her mouth really big and show them her teeth! I asked her if she cried earlier and she said yes, but then she said, "But Mommy, I happy!!" Such a sweet girl!! I'm so proud of her!

The dentist came in, did the exam, and they put fluoride on her teeth. She said her teeth look great, and she has no cavities or areas of concern. Kendall got to pick out so many prizes because we had to wait awhile. She got 3 bracelets and 2 more stickers! While we were waiting in the room, she kept walking over to the drawer that had the toothpaste in it that she was able to pick out, asking for more. I kept telling her no, but before we left the nurse gave her one. She was pretty excited!! Because she had no cavities, she got her name entered into the "No Cavity!" club before we left! In addition to being so excited that Kendall did well, I was pretty happy to check out and learn that our insurance covered 100%! Also, they felt bad that we had to wait awhile on the dentist, so they gave us a card with a gift certificate to Cold Stone Creamery in it! This is the best dentist ever!! :)

Kendall's reward from me (in addition to her million prizes from the dentist) was getting to go to "Chick-a-lay" and get ice cream. I let her sit in the booth across from me, she ate her yogurt, ice cream, and even some of my fries! It was a fun little date.

Whew! We had such low expectations for how today would go, but Kendall did so great! I'm so proud of her and thankful for a great dentist office!! Yea for clean teeth and an awesome two year old!!