First Dentist Appointment

Today Nick had his first dental appointment. And he has a grand total of four teeth. Four! And he is almost 13 months. He did very well, although he was a little leery of having a strangers put their fingers in his mouth. They did not take any x-rays, probably becuase he is so little.

It was actually more painful for Gabe, since he had to sit and wait for so long and was not able to really do anything. He did, however, get Nick's "prize". Normally he chooses to get the token so he can get something out of the little prize machines, but today he chose to pick something out of the treasure chest. His pick was a miniature container of playdoh.

We were told to use a tiny dab of fluoride toothpaste on Nick's toothbrush. Also, we are to start using it for Gabe. We had been told previously not to use it for babies, and also not to use it if they were still swallowing their toothpaste, but our dentist told us that guidelines regarding fluoride toothpaste and children had recently changed.

Gabe is getting really good at brushing his own teeth, and flossing, although he dies need a little help for his back teeth. He is growing up so quickly, and he is able to do so many things on his own, even if he would prefer to have Pigpen or my MIL or me do it for him. It's so hard to accept that he is no longer a baby. My baby has been replaced by a little boy.

Nick still isn't huge on having his teeth brushed, although he does like to play with the tooth brush on his own. I had been brushing his teeth at bath time, like we do with Gabe. However, since he does get a bottle of milk before bed, our dentist wants us to brush his teeth after he finishes his bottle, and then no more milk at night.