A Trip to the Dentist

Chloe was the first to go and did a good job sitting still for x-rays and getting her teeth cleaned.

Owen supervised while Ms. Dawn cleaned Chloe's teeth.  Chloe didn't have any cavities, but was told she needs to brush better because quite a bit of plaque got scraped off her little teeth.

Owen didn't have any cavities either and was told he does a pretty good job brushing his teeth.  Way to go Owen!

Yay for kids with no cavities!!!

Chloe was home today, making sure that her 102.5 fever from the weekend was seriously gone.  She was thrilled to be my shipping helper.  Can you tell she was excited?  She couldn't help but run to the mailbox.

She very carefully placed one package in the mailbox at a time.

I love the mouth opened in concentration as she is trying to get the package into the mailbox.

I also love the tip toes to get everything pushed inside the mailbox.

Aaaaaand done.

The fever disappeared around 10am and never came back, so she came along to our dentist appointment.  Owen got x-rays and a small cavity was found, although it was in a deep molar crevice.  He was told he is a good brusher, so that was nice to hear.  The other nice thing to hear was that he won't need a shot of novocaine or any drilling to fix the cavity.

Chloe did not have any cavities, but was told she could do a better job brushing because quite a bit of plaque was scraped off her teeth.  She just loves these mardi gras beads Todd brought home from a trip to New Orleans several months ago.  She wears them All.  The.  Time.

Um.  Excuse me?  Who let this child's feet grow so big?  Where did her sweet baby pigs go?  I want them back!

They tried to do a fluoride treatment on her teeth, but she spit the trays out before they were even in for five seconds.  Apparently the taste did not agree with her.  This is Ms. Dawn suctioning out all remaining fluoride from Chloe's mouth.

During this visit, we also learned that Chloe has three broken teeth.  One of her top front ones is chipped slightly.  But an eye tooth on the top right and a molar on the bottom left are pretty badly broken to the point of being able to see the dentin on the tooth.  :(  The dentist said we don't need to do anything to fix these teeth, since they are baby teeth and they aren't causing her any pain.  But we felt badly that we didn't realize her teeth really were broken over the summer on a field trip to J.J. Biello park with her summer camp class.  She told us then that her teeth had fallen out, but we could tell all of her teeth were still in her head.

Note to self:  Check more closely if a child tells you her teeth fell out.  :(

Return Trip to the Dentist

Owen needed to get the last two of his four amalgams.  They are similar to sealants in that they fill in the grooves of molars to create more shallow ridges and prevent cavities.  Anesthesia wasn't needed and the procedure took less than 20 minutes.

Owen had fun hamming it up in the waiting room before we went back to the dentist's chair.

He waited until the dentist was ready to put on the sunglasses.  Besides the normal overhead light on an arm, they also used a laser to help harden the material they were putting on Owen's teeth to smooth them out.

Owen insisted that I take a pic of the ceiling with all the cool posters.

The dentist and hygienist worked quickly and Owen was done in no time!

Dental Visit - Part 2 with Chloe

Chloe made herself comfortable.

Doesn't she look tiny under the metal blanket?  This was the first time Chloe had to get x-rays.  She walked into the dentist's office announcing she was not going to get x-rays taken of her teeth.  But somehow, Jennifer talked her into it.

The films barely fit inside her mouth.

That's right, Momma still asks you to say "Cheese" with a mouth full of x-ray films and covered by a metal blanket.

Chloe said getting the x-rays wasn't so bad.  Next was the cavity check and teeth cleaning.  She's not a fan of the bright light and always gets a pair of over-sized sunglasses.

How cool is the Bean in her shades, sweatshirt and pink leopard pants?

Dental Visit - Part 1 with Owen

Both kids took quite a bit of time to analyze the computer chart showing Owen's teeth.

Owen was ready to get his teeth checked!

He did so good getting his teeth poked and scraped.  No cavities!

Next up was a fluoride treatment.

After the fluoride treatment, he got to hold the sucker straw.

Owen really liked how it felt on his tongue.