Mitchell's First Dentist Appointment

Mitchell had his first dentist appointment today with Dr. King. In preparation for the appointment, I told him we were going to the dentist so he could count his teeth and see how pretty they are. Mitchell kept saying, “No.” And again this morning, he kept saying he didn’t want to go to the dentist and he didn’t want to show him his teeth.

We arrived a little early so Mitchell and I settled in to watch “Toy Story” in the “theater”. They called for “Mitchell’s mom” and told me that they wanted him to go back by himself. She said they would look at his teeth and clean them and if things went well, they would do x-rays. And I’m thinking to myself that they will be lucky if they get past just looking at his teeth!

He went with her without too much of a fight and I didn’t hear any blood-curdling screams so I thought all must be well. Then they came to get me. They said he was refusing to open his mouth and they didn’t want to traumatize him by forcing him to open it.

I walked into this big room that had 4-5 cushioned tables along one side and Mitchell was sitting on one of the tables looking so scared and pitiful. So I went and sat on the table with him and started talking to him about opening his mouth. At this point, the dental hygienist realized that his name was Mitchell, not Preslan. They had been calling him Preslan because they thought that was his first name!

I finally got him to lay back and we forced his mouth open as much as we could. She cleaned his teeth and then put some fluoride on his teeth. Then it was time for Dr. King to look at his teeth. At this point, he was refusing to open his mouth although the dentist did get a good look when he yelled because he opened his mouth really wide. Then I think he realized what he did and he clamped it shut. The dentist was finally able to “count” his teeth and said he has no cavities and that everything looks good.

I brought my camera but I didn't take any pictures. I was too busy holding him still and helping to open his mouth. Plus, he just looked really mad and a little scared so I didn't want to make it worse by taking pictures of him!

Now we get to go back in 6 months.