First Trip to the Dentist

On Thursday, April 15, Joshua had his first trip to the dentist. I can't believe how big my boy has become! We talked for days beforehand about going to the dentist and how he would have to open wide and be very brave in the office. I wasn't sure what to expect from Joshua - sometimes he's easygoing and perfect and other times he freaks out. I was nervous to say the least, but he was amazingly well behaved and an angel.

I must say that the pediatric dentist office is incredible and so great for kids. It's located right down the street from our house on Roseville Road, and the decor is all cowboy themed. I had to snap a few pictures. He's Elmo as a Cowboy, and the waiting room had a cute little slide that Joshua loved to play on, and he liked the screen of fish and looking at the live lizard, etc. The signs said "all my heroes growing up were cowboys" and the decor was adorable with the curtains and wall hangings and every coordinated item.

That morning, I asked my sister Jen if she would be willing to watch Caleb so the Bean would not be distracted by his little brother. She agreed and I dropped my little guy off before we went. Joshua started opening his mouth the minute we walked into the waiting room, and the receptionist thought he was a doll. He grinned at the lizard (pictured below) and found this neat Thomas laptop computer that he was in love with. Soon enough, they called us back!

We were lucky enough to get the son of the Dr. Miller & son team. He was AMAZING with the Bean. As Joshua played with the other kids and trains in the actual dental office area, we talked about the Bean's laundry list of medical issues from being born early to having one and a half lungs to his asthma, GERD, digestion difficulties, etc. The bad news is that ALL of them lead to tooth decay.

Being premature means the teeth didn't have time to completely form, asthma leads to dry mouth which means the saliva isn't cleansing the teeth as it should, reflux also is a leading factor, etc. It wasn't necessarily good news. Joshua road the mechanical horse then, which he wasn't too sure about at first. :) :) :)

Dr. Aaron also noted with all Joshua's surgeries that he might see the gloves and mask and be terrified of him. He said we would go with the flow and see what Joshua would allow us to do. But, my son was incredibly well behaved as the doctor was full of grace for him. Dr. Aaron told him that his hands were cold so he was going to put on his gloves, then he said that the mask was because he had a cold. Then he asked Joshua to sit on mommy's lap in the chair and lay his head back. Joshua opened wide as Dr. Aaron told him that he had just talked to Thomas about eating cookies for breakfast. The doctor chatted on about Joshua's favorite characters as he cleaned his teeth and gave him a fluoride treatment. I think the entire episode lasted five minutes or less. He was quick and noted some areas in Joshua's mouth to watch. He told me after we were done that there are a few teeth in the back of Joshua's mouth that weren't completely formed at birth from coming early, so we need to keep an eye on them since they are prone to rapid decay. For now, though, everything looked good.

They let Joshua play a few more minutes to get a feel for the fun office (which was full of toys!) and I checked us out. After the paperwork was done (and thankfully they take our insurance), they told Joshua he got a prize for leaving and handed him a very cool train. The Bean still didn't want to go, but he liked the new stickers they gave him and the cute little red train. It was a great experience! And I told the doctor just how impressed I was with him and his ability to work with children, particularly mine. He smiled and thanked me and we were off to get Caleb.

Joshua begged to call Papaw to tell him what a good boy he had been at the dentist, so that was our next order of business. Later that night, we went to dinner with them at one of Joshua's favorite restaurants - Fiorentino's flight deck, and we saw tons of helicopters and airplanes. :) What a great ending to a nice day.