Tristan's first dentist trip

This week I tried out a different dentist in my neighborhood. It worked out well for me so I made an appointment for Tristan. As of three days ago, he is 25 months old now. It was time.

Tristan's first visit to the dentist today was awesome. He wasn't scared one bit and was cooperative and curious the whole time. Normally, one parent would hold the child and the dentist would have a look. Tristan sat in the big chair all by himself. I sat at the end of his chair observing him. I some times held his hand, in case he needed some comforting. He was just fine :)

The dentist kept asking me if this was his first trip to the dentist since he was so cooperative. He said that a lot of the small children cry. He was really impressed that Tristan was so quiet and well-behaved. That made me pleased :)

The examination lasted about ten minutes. The dentist looked inside Tristan's mouth and using a new toothbrush, he counted all of his teeth. An assistant on a nearby computer documented what the dentist was describing. Tristan has eight teeth on the top and eight teeth on the bottom. He is expected to get four more teeth so that there will be ten at the top and ten at the bottom. Yup, four more molar are expected! After that, somewhere between ages 6-12 all of his teeth will fall out and he will get his adult teeth.

The dentist was very gentle with Tristan because he didn't want to scare him. He turned on the polisher and using water, he polished four of his top teeth. He just wanted Tristan to get used to the noise and feel of the tool in his mouth. Like they keep telling me, "small steps!" He also turned on the air tool and blew air at Tristan's face. He got Tristan to touch all of these things so he wouldn't be afraid. Then at the end, Tristan got to select a toy. When he couldn't decide, the dentist took a tooth container toy and handed it to him and said "to remember me by."

We spoke about using fluoride. The dentist doesn't believe that much fluoride should be used. A pea-size toothpaste for a day is sufficient. If we brush twice a day, half a pea-size each time. We currently use a pea-side in the morning and then at night as well. Now I'm going to use training toothpaste in the morning and then Tristan's fluoride toothpaste at night. It's funny because the Fraser health guys told me that fluoride should be used right away when the first tooth appears. They told me that unless you ingest tubes full of fluoride toothpaste, it won't harm you. The dentist tells me it does. You won't be able to tell until your child gets their adult teeth. The teeth will come out with white freckles (??). Apparently, fluoride exists in food sources like milk and juice.

The best part about this trip was when the dentist remarked that Tristan had nice teeth and that he looked like he had just come from a dental cleaning. It was so clean, white, and he didn't even have any plaque. I was so pleased again! When I told Jean-Louis this, he was shocked. He thought for sure we would get lectured on not cleaning his teeth properly. The truth is, Tristan doesn't like to brush his teeth much. We have to bribe him and force him some times. He always brushes first and then we brush him after. We started this process very early and we do try to stress the importance of it every time. I guess what I am hearing today is that all that effort has paid off :)