The day arrives and all morning J has been practicing opening her mouth. She is pretty excited about the whole thing. She's still pretty excited in the waiting room. Then we go into the actual dentist room. I now realise this isn't the most inviting of places. It is cold, sterile and stark with weird machines everywhere and the dental nurse is wearing a mask over her face. J's excitement plummets. I can see her keeping an eye on the exit. It looks like she is very much considering whether she can run but the dentist is experienced. He leaps into action, saying all the right things, keeping her calm. I sit on the chair, she sits on my lap and he just talks to her. He is really quite lovely.
He starts to put on his gloves and again her eyes dart towards the exit. He quickly changes tact and proceeds to blow up the glove and tell her he is making a chicken. He gets out a texta, draws an eye on it and lets J draw the other eye. He then draws a smile and starts adding in teeth and we are now at least talking about teeth. He broaches the idea of moving the conversation away from the chicken's teeth to her teeth. She opens her mouth. Just. He counts her teeth. There are twenty. We talk briefly about brushing. He gives her a sticker. I feel like it's been a success. More importantly, she feels like it's been a success.
I then go to pay for myself and discover I'm being charged $63 for J's comprehensive oral exam.' I receive $21.40 back thanks to private health. I am pleased with my decision not to get the boys' teeth looked at.
That's nice. The dentist seems to have done a very good job engaging your kid, which is how things should be done for the little ones. And should the child start feeling nervous or restless, it’s best to have something to distract her, like a toy or funny stories.
ReplyDeleteJoel Haynes @ Pediatric Dentist Georgia