Look, Ma, No Cavities!

Peeper did a great job at the dentist today. I was a bit confused, though. This appointment wasn't a check-up and cleaning (although, of course, she did check for cavities and found none - yay!), it was just for sealing her two-year molars (they weren't fully erupted the last time we were there).

And she did great!

At her last visit, we were so proud of her for taking it all in stride, and opening wide and being totally cool about everything, but I'm even prouder of how she handled it today, because she didn't take it all in stride, and yet she dealt with it.

It took a good while to do all the sealing, each of the four teeth was a multi-step process, plus she did some work on the one front tooth that she'd filled in the office a couple of visits ago. It was starting to collect some plaque around the edge of the filling, so she smoothed that out or added some filler or something, so that there wouldn't be a place for things to build up. So that took a while, too.

The molars also involved a "tooth pillow" (The thing that looks like tiny inside-out tongs with cushions, that locks open to keep her from biting the dentist. I want one to use for brushing her teeth.) and cotton rolls and "Mr. Thirsty" and "rain and wind" and so on and so forth.

She mostly just lay on me and was pretty agreeable about it, but four different times she got upset. (At least once, I think she kind of gagged a bit on some spit and that's what set her off.)

Each time, Dr. C was able to finish up the tooth she was working on, and then we took a little break - twice to nurse and twice just for a snug. Each time I set a limit ("Goody to twenty," or "Snug for ten.") and counted pretty slowly, and when we got to ten or twenty, she was happy to get back into position and let Doctor keep working.

Then she got a red popsicle (which we talked about a lot during the procedure) and two prizes (a camera that shows pictures of animals, and a necklace with a happy face on it - this time the dental hygeinist picked them out, rather than letting her dig through the treasure chest.) and played happily with the toys while we checked out. And while Mama went to potty. And for quite a while longer, until we finally managed to drag her out of there.

Have I mentioned how much we loooooove our dentist?

She is the same one who did her caps in the hospital, and we've requested her ever since. Before our last visit, we were told that she'd moved back home to Connecticutt to be near her family, but it seems there was some technical difficulty with getting her license transferred, so she's still here.

Permanently, I hope.

I know, I feel bad for her and her family, but what about our needs?!

She is just so wonderful with Peeper, which I suppose you would expect from a pediatric dentist, but on top of being used to working with little ones, she also has a daughter just three months younger, so she's really experienced with kids her age - whatever that age might be at the moment.

She also has a six-month-old; she was actually very pregnant with her when we first met her.

She is a nursing mama herself (Her older daughter self-weaned at somewhere around sixteen months, I think? Maybe older? And, of course, now there's the baby.) so I not only do I have no qualms about whipping out a boob in her chair, but when I asked if it was okay (in the sense of "Will it wash off the stuff you just put on her tooth if she nurses right this second?") she said, "Oh, of course. If it's going to settle her down, go right ahead!"

(Not that I ever do have qualms about that, but I might at least wonder if the other person was uncomfortable with me being right in their face. When she nurses during echos, I make a point of telling the tech, "Don't mind me. If I were the one getting the echo, you'd be rubbing that thing all over my naked boob, so if you bump into me or something, don't worry about it.")

And I guess Peeper likes her too, because I was posting a note on the practice's Facebook page ("Like us and be registered to win a $50 gift card!") thanking her for being so patient and understanding with her, and I told Peeper, "I'm writing a note to the dentist. What would  you like me to tell her?" and she said, "Tell her 'I wuv you.'"