Rylie's First Visit To The Dentist

OK, well, it wasn't technically her first visit, but it was the first time she had her teeth cleaned. Rylie had gone with me to my last two cleanings for "fun visits". My dentist likes to make sure the kids are comfortable with coming in there, so he has them come in a few times to take "rides" in the chair and pick prizes from the treasure closet before they actually do anything to them.

So yesterday was the day. I had to take her to her pediatrician in the morning to get this rash checked out that was on her legs (turns out it was most likely from a bug bite), then we looked at a house for Mama, had lunch, and then headed to the dentist. She seemed so excited about it all day, which surprised me, but she started to get anxious as we were driving there.

You see, when Rylie went with me before, she got scared of the white suction tube the hygienist uses to suck out water and such. For the last four months any time I mentioned her going to the dentist she would always say "are they gonna use that white thing on me?" To which I always replied "no, Lindsey knows you don't like that."

When we arrived at the dentist's office Tuesday afternoon, Rylie walked right in with a smile and proceeded to ask everyone who worked there what their names were. My hygienist (who I also consider my friend after all these years) told me to fill out her paperwork and got Rylie right up in the chair. She was so smart! Rylie didn't even have time to get nervous. Well, so I thought.

As Lindsey showed her everything she was going to use and told her what she was going to do, Rylie got a little freaked out over "the white thing". Lindsey agreed not to use it, but told her she would have to swish her mouth out. Rylie had a tear running down her face when Lindsey first got started, but the tears dried up very quickly as Lindsey got to work. I was seriously shocked! She first looked at all of her teeth, did a little scraping on a couple of them and showed me where we needed to brush a little better, and then got to polishing Rylie's teeth. Rylie followed all of Lindsey's directions and did so well!

After Lindsey polished one area of Rylie's teeth, she needed to rinse them. This is where Lindsey got sneaky. She told Rylie that the light was going to get real bright (hence the need for the cool sunglasses, just in case you were wondering) and told her to close her eyes. She grabbed the rinse tool and "the white thing" and just like that, she rinsed her teeth and suctioned the water out.

Rylie didn't even flinch! She continued in this manner until she was done cleaning her teeth, and then told her she had been using it the whole time. Rylie just smiled and said "well I'm not afraid of the white thing anymore." She was so cute.

After Lindsey flossed Rylie's teeth, she sat her up to do a fluoride treatment. I figured this was when Rylie was going to say "No way!" but instead she let Lindsey put the huge plastic mold into her mouth and sat there for a whole minute, even with "the white thing" in her mouth the entire time.

When Rylie was all done and it was my turn, she didn't want to take her cool sunglasses off. She kept asking Lindsey why she couldn't take them home.

While we were waiting for the dentist to come in and look at Rylie's teeth, she got to make a trip to the prize closet. She picked out a few things for herself like a princess toothbrush, toothpaste, tattoos and a message pad, and then asked if she could pick something out for Bryce. She got him a tattoo also. What a nice sister!

The dentist came in and looked at Rylie's teeth and told her what a great job she was doing brushing and flossing. He gave her the all clear and told her that she didn't have any cavities. Yay!

I am so proud of my big girl! That visit went way better than expected, and she can't wait to go back! Lindsey did such a great job with Rylie, and I was so grateful for that. She made her feel relaxed, and they had a lot of fun together. She even let Rylie color with her special markers while I was getting my teeth cleaned.

After we left the dentist with our pearly whites in tip top shape, we picked Brian up and looked at yet another house for Mama, and then picked Bryce up from school. We decided a night at Chick-fil-A was definitely in order to celebrate Rylie's first visit to the dentist and her great report!