Christian's First Trip to the Dentist

Today we took Christian to his first visit to the dentist. Some books say a child should see a dentist when their teeth start coming in ... other books say by the time they are one. Our pediatrician recommended we hold off until Christian turns three, because Christian gets really upset when he's handled by somebody "medical."

We chose a pediatric dentist who is nearby and runs nice ads in the local paper. Just look at this adorable waiting room. It is decorated in jungle island theme with a huge tree inside that holds colorful monkeys, butterflies, birds, etc. It also has a little arcade, which really impressed Jonathan ("I was legendary at Galactica!") and also a little coffee bar (which really impressed Jonathan, too).

Alas, it was a difficult exam - Christian was very, very upset as the hygienist cleaned his teeth. The hygienist handled it well and had the patience of Job. The exam seemed to last forever, but he made it through and was in a good mood by the time we left.

The main reason we took Christian to the dentist is because there just isn't enough room in his mouth for all of his teeth and I was becoming increasingly concerned about the situation (if you know me, then you know I have an obsession with teeth).

The X-rays revealed Christina has TWO extra teeth. He should have just 20, and he has 22. The obvious solution is to remove two teeth - but why torture a two year old with that procedure?

I asked the dentist if maybe Christian's mouth would grow big enough to accommodate the teeth - and the answer was no. In the X-ray, the future adult teeth are visible and we briefly discussed that Christian will likely one day need orthodontics.

The current concern is that because his mouth is so crowded, it will be tricky to clean his teeth well. The good thing is that we don't typically give Christian sweets, and he doesn't drink juice - just milk and water. But, we were told to be careful with raisins and dried fruit, as they are sticky and tend to stay in between the teeth where it's hard for us to reach.

So we'll take him to the dentist every six months for a cleaning and have the situation with his extra teeth re-evaluated.