First trip to the Dentist!

Friday was Kristopher and Lynae’s first time going to the dentist!  The two of them went back, along with Delaina and I, and the hygienist showed them on a dragon how to brush their teeth.  Then how to floss.  Then, how they would take x-rays and what the dentist would use to clean and suction their mouths.  All of this was new to me (not the how-to, but the fact that they took the time to ‘teach’ and didn’t just go do it!).  It was nice, since both of them could understand and apply what was being said, granted the whole “how to brush” thing could have been skipped, but that’s ok .

They went back together, but without me, which is a very different thing than any of our disabled kiddos!  I haven’t ever allowed our nonverbal kids to go anywhere that they are being treated without me there.  It is just different when you have a child that can tell you about the experience then when you have a child that you KNOW is going to be ‘aggravated’ by it and who cannot tell you how that was dealt with.

So… they went back together, alone.  Both of them did well!  No cavities for either of them, and we now have a plan in place to begin working on Kristopher’s mouth…

Welcome to the world of orthodontics.

He’s going to have spacers put on in the back of his mouth in the next few weeks (maybe as early as next week, I haven’t scheduled it yet because of timing with the appointment) and then have brackets put on his front teeth a week after that.  Then he’ll go monthly for adjustments over the next 5-6 months after that.  And we get to pay for it… LOL.

So, they each have a new toothbrush and toothpaste and a small choking hazard (as Kris kept pointing out to me!) toy for each of them, and two sets of pearly whites that have been officially inspected!

Unfortunately, I underestimated the amount of time this would take (since my other kids’ appointments are generally about 30-60 minutes long at the dentist they go to for special needs kids in Orlando) and even though we didn’t have to drive an hour to get to this dentist, it still took just as much of the day!  It was almost 3 hours by the time we left at 11:30 (we arrived at 8:40)!!  I was then in a rush to get Kris to school (in time for… lunch… ) and get home to let our sitter (who we never confirmed the date with and she jumped out of bed and came at a moment’s notice when we called her this morning! Oops… thank you Angel! ) go home and for a friend to come for lunch and to hang out a bit in the afternoon.

I suppose I should plan that better next time!