There are no chairs and magazines in the waiting room. Instead, there are couches and a game table. And a book corner. And a flat panel tv showing something animated. And a video game station.
The receptionist was smiling and friendly and didn't seem at all overwhelmed that three tiny people had just toddled in. There is a glass door that leads to the exam rooms and the kids lined up at the window and peeked through at the people walking back and forth. And the dog.
There's a dog, Gretchen, who is a sort of mascot for the practice. Caroline could not have been more excited. They took some pictures of the kids with Gretchen - unfortunately, at the end of the visit - which we hope to have copies of in a couple of weeks.
When we were called into the exam room, the kids were immediately promised "presents". First, they got to pick out a new tooth brush. The hygienist held out four Toy Story brushes and two Disney Princess ones and let each kid choose. Caroline went first and chose Woody from Toy Story. Max went for Buzz Lightyear, and Daniel happily chose Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Next, they each got a purple wind-up timer (I was told later this counts down 45 seconds and that's how long we're supposed to brush their teeth. The last gift was a page of stickers. Again, they were given a choice. Caroline chose dinosaurs, Max chose fish, and Daniel chose frogs.
The dentist came in, with Gretchen, to say hello, meet everyone, and ask some questions about brushing, bottles, and snacks. Then she left and the hygienist set about showing us how to brush their teeth. Generally, I take it, they would have mom and dad do the brushing (one holds the child to immobilize arms and legs and lays the kid's head in the other's lap for brushing), but since both Max and Daniel had set themselves to sobbing, she decided I should hold them and she would brush and Joe could manage the crowd. Yes, you read that correctly. Caroline, who hates having her teeth brushed more than anyone else, was showing off for strangers and being perfectly calm.
We started with Daniel. His teeth got painted purple to show what a bad job we'd done brushing by highlighting the plaque. Then 45 seconds of brushing until all the purple was gone, and then it was Max's turn. He cried a bit more - to the point that the hygienist felt the need to point out the toothless gap at the back of his jaw as where I could put my finger to hold his mouth open. But again, a lot of brushing and the purple was gone. Caroline was brave when it was her turn, but her aversion to brushing showed. Her gums were dark purple with plaque and as it was vigorously brushed away they ran red with blood. Poor little girl.
The dentist came back in to examine their teeth, proclaiming that Daniel and Max have identical teeth and bites - which is good, because she also says chances are good that they will grow in straight and well-spaced. So with this information, we held our breath as the snaggletoothed, pacifier-loving, recently bleeding gummed Caroline had her turn. A bunch of specific dental talk was spouted off to be recorded in her file, and though I didn't know what it meant, I could tell it wasn't identical to her brothers. The dentist said, succinctly, "wow - totally different mouth for this one." The diagnosis was that Caroline has a slight overbite, which can be noticed in her tiny little chin, and her teeth grow in on an angle that has been exacerbated by her pacifier use. We were told that in any other case, we would be told to ditch the pacifier asap, but since, "She's going to need braces anyway," it probably wouldn't matter much if we took a little more time tapering off.
So - I guess the good news is that only one got the "definitely gonna need braces" with one of them. So now we just have to cross our fingers and hope she's right!
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| Riding home with their new toys from the "well done" chest on the way out! |
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