First trip to the Dentist

I am so relieved as I write this! Whew, one less thing to stress about - and yes, right now there are PLENTY! Around Christmas time I noticed that one of Gavin's bottom front teeth looked a little discolored. Now, checking out a toddlers teeth is about as easy as checking out a dogs (I know, I've now tried both!). We are good parents who always make Gavin brush his teeth each night and never let him take a bottle/sippy cup/etc. to bed with him. I know that it should be twice a day, but it's so exhausting trying to shove a toothbrush into a mouth that is puckered so tight that I literally have to pry his lips apart to get to his teeth. Gavin's idea of brushing is squeezing as much Thomas the Train Toothpaste onto his toothbrush as humanly possible, placing it into his puckered mouth and sucking til all the tuity fruity is gone! I've told him I need to HEAR the sound of the brushes against his teeth, but I still end up with the wrestling match once he's finished the job. Anyway, I was a bit worried about it, but figured I'd just start brushing really, really well and it would come off, I mean who's heard of cavities and decay at 2? Unfortunately, that's all I could think though, that I've ruined his first set of teeth and we're going to watch his teeth slowly fall out one by one until his next set arrives in 4-5 years. So now it's February and a couple weeks back I got a good look at his teeth and gasp - it had spread to ALL of his bottom teeth! Why of why did I not sign him up for dental insurance this year - I mean why not be on the safe side with that stuff? I had asked and normally kids don't really start to see a dentist until age 3, so I figured I had another full year.

Ok, so I made him an appointment with our dentist and they explained on the phone that perhaps it only needed to be scraped off, it was doubtful that it would be more serious than that. Being the uber-optimist I am, I figured they didn't know what they were talking about and they hadn't seen how terrible his teeth looked. Low and behold, they DID know what they were talking about - it's just stained and although Dr. H tried his best to polish his teeth, no deal. So after about 20 minutes of playing with all of Dr. H's power tools and pressing any and all buttons within reach and squirting enough water on the floor/equipment to cause an electrical shortage, we left with a few tubs of polishing stuff and instructions to apply with a toothbrush at home until removed. I applied while Gavin was in the tub tonight and it already looks 50% better! Just a few more days of prying fort mouth open and we should be back to pearly whites! Whew!!!!!!

Here's a pic of Gavin and Dr. H - did I mention that Gavin NEVER sat down so Dr. H had to do all his examining while Gavin "helped" with the tools? He was actually pretty good though and got to pick a prize from the treasure chest on his way out, so he was a happy camper today!

And tomorrow starts our twice daily brushing schedule!