Waldo and I haven’t been to the dentist since right before we left Montana about 17 months ago. We have dental insurance so there’s no excuse other than not knowing a dentist in California and losing track of time. Over the last couple of months we have both commented to each other that we have a tooth pain or two. Waldo’s Mom Rita found a holistic dentists in Boise and she really liked him so we got on the ball and Waldo made appointments for us. I knew that Lily needed to be eased into having a stranger probe around in her mouth so Waldo asked the receptionist if Lily could sit in the exam room while we were getting our cleaning. Of course she could.
In the days leading up to the big dentist day we talked to Lily about what was going to happen and how excited Mommy and Daddy were to be getting our teeth cleaned and how important it is to take care of your teeth. She was starting to get excited. It didn’t hurt that we also told her we’d go to the zoo after the dentist.
When we got to the dentist office the hygienists, Erlinda came out and talk to Lily for a few minutes, just trying to get on Lil’s good side. I thought it was very nice and scored a big gold star for Erlinda. Then Erlinda took Waldo back to do his x-rays and then came to get Lily and myself. We sat in a chair while Waldo got cleaned or stood over him so Lil could see into his mouth. When it was time to polish his teeth Erlisa let Lily feel the polisher and how soft it was, Lily loved this and made sure that Waldo and I got turns touching the spinning polisher.
Lil started to get bored after a while so I let her play on my phone while Waldo got finished up. Because we were still in the exam room I was able to show Lily all the different steps even if she wasn’t into it at that point. The same thing pretty much happened while I was getting my teeth cleaned only she was bored sooner. Erlinda told me I have very cute tiny teeth, and she was very impressed with how straight and perfect they were even though had never had braces. More gold stars.
After I was done Lil sat on my lap and I showed her teeth to Erlinda and then Lil got a tooth brush. she thought that was very cool. While I was getting my stuff together Lily and Waldo went to the front desk to make our six month appointments and also appointment for the work that we need right away. When they got there, the receptionist let Lily get a little toy from the treasure chest for being a good girl. We decided that when we come back for our next cleaning Lily would get more of a “cleaning”, but it will really just take a few minutes and will just be another step in the ease-in plan that we have. I think Lil’s going to do great as long as we go at her pace.
By the time we had lunch and she had a nap we got to the zoo about a hour before it closed. We were a little bummed that we didn’t get to see all of our favorite animals, but we did get our ice cream cone and had a nice time anyway.
