Wish me luck tomorrow!!
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| Tue, 03-20-2007 - 5:28pm |
In the morning, I have to take the girls to the dentist. This is their first time EVER (they are only 3). Considering the way Jenna is with *anything* done to her (with the exception of primping stuff like putting pretty things in her hair or putting in earrings), I am truly worried about how this is going to go. She fights us brushing her teeth, combing tangles out of her hair, and when we wash her hair you'd think we were stabbing her slowly with long needles. This is EVERY NIGHT!! If I possibly can I get Michael to do all medical procedures to her (giving meds, taking temps, etc) because she is sooooo hard to deal with! And she fights him, too! One time I had to give her eyedrops for pinkeye while he was at work and it got so bad I had to sit on top of her and hold her head still by holding a handful of her hair to the floor. I ended up in tears myself!!
When we go to the pediatrician she's not much better. It's a rare occasion when we go, because Michael will treat her for routine stuff at home, but she has obviously gone for Well Child Checks, and immunizations, and it's a nightmare. She runs into the corner, she cries, she fights even the doctor. Fortunately, he's a very good friend of ours who did part of his residency with Michael, so he is cool about it and very understanding. She's famous there, and when he sees her (even socially), he butters her up with "How's my favorite patient?" and stuff like that because he already knows her all too well!
The dentist does not know us so well. It's a pediatric dentist, but not a personal friend, though I like her. I'm not so worried about Tessa. She's so shy she'll be very quiet and compliant. But I'm afraid Jenna's going to scream so loud when they try and clean her teeth and when the dentist examines her that it's going to scare all the other patients away. I have this image in my head of Generic Dental People dragging her out from under that huge electric chair as she shrieks. It would probably take about 5 of them to do it!!
OMG, this child takes me to my limits. . .
Please wish me luck tomorrow morning!! Thanks! :P





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GOOD LUCK!!
LOL, good luck! You know, I was very worried when we first took Hayden to the ped. dentist. He was also 3, and with all of his issues, I thought it would be a nightmare! It wasn't so bad. The first time, he would not let them do much. Every other time we've been, its been great. Pediatric dentists deal with all different kinds of children. So even if she freaks out, know that she's not the first, and won't be the last, and they are used to it.
Chrissy
Good luck!
I think you'll be surprised at the outcome of this appointment. They aren't going to scrape like they would an adult, they are more concerned on checking on the health of the teeth and making the child feel comfortable for the sake of future visits. Taking them to a pediatric dentist is the best way to go, we do too.
I hope Tessa takes it all ok and is happy with her new toothbrush, lol.
Goodluck!!
Thanks, everyone, for your well wishes!
It was a nightmare, just as I feared. The minute we walked into the waitingroom, she was whining for me to pick her up, pulling on my purse and jacket, etc. She's no fool! She wouldn't play with the toys in the waitingroom, and I tried distracting her, but she kept saying she wanted to go home. When they took us back, I had them do Tessa first so Jenna could see it was no big deal. Tessa was very cooperative as always, but she wouldn't say much to them. She's so shy. I held Jenna on my lap in the corner, and she watched, but kept whining that she wanted to go home. The hygeinist and I kept telling her it doesn't hurt, that she was just going to get her teeth brushed with a funny toothbrush.
They did clean their teeth, but not by scraping. They used that industrial electric toothbrush, and gave them a flouride treatment. When it was Jenna's turn, I tried to coax her into climbing into the chair and she would have nothing to do with it. They had a toybox where the kids could pick a new toy (think Happy Meal grade), and I tried to bribe her: "If you're a good girl you'll get a toy," etc. She would have none of it. Forget the toy, she wasn't risking it! I carried her to the chair and when I tried to put her down, she clung to my neck like a monkey, and started crying loudly. The hygeinist had to help me pry her arms off my neck!!
Anyway, needless to say, it was as much of a fight as I thought. We finally coaxed her (crying) into opening her mouth for the cleaning, but the hygeinist wasn't able to do a very thorough job, and when they put the flouride on, she gagged. She was drooling, screaming, it was horrible. I was fighting tears myself. She even refused the water rinse, so the hygeinist had to squirt water in her mouth so she wouldn't swallow the flouride. She held a tray up for the water to run into, and I held her head forward.
She did open her mouth for the dentist to look around, and, luckily, no cavities (I can't imagine!! They'd have to put her under general anesthesia!). Luckily, the dentist and hygeinist were very cool, and took it all in stride, telling me they're used to this, etc. In some ways, though, that doesn't help, because it's your own child and you still have to deal with it.
Anyway, it's over. Now she's carrying her toy (Yeah, OK, she got one!) and toothbrush around like she's very proud of herself.
Is she just spoiled? Hard-headed? What have I done wrong? What's wrong with my daughter? Does she have tactile issues? I've never seen any other evidence of that. She's very affectionate, even to her teacher, and her new little preschool friend. I just don't understand this behavior. Does it stem from being in the NICU as a newborn with IVs and needles and EKG leads? Is it PTSD left over from that in some part of her unconscious or something? (There I go psychoanalyzing again!!). I just don't get this total phobia of medical proceedures. Will she outgrow this? It is so hard to deal with!! I can't imagine what would happen if, God forbid, she ever *truly* had some serious illness where she had to be hospitalized or something! They'd have to keep her under sedation the whole time!
We survived, but it kind of ruined my day. I'm truly worried about her this time. I think she may have some serious issues.
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