The Dentist

About a month ago Mara Kate fell down while running and chipped her two front teeth. I didn't know how hard she had hit, but I took her to the dentist that very afternoon to make sure everything was ok. The dentist told me he couldn't tell how badly the nerve had been hit, but to not be surprised if her teeth turned dark, gray or even black. Thankfully that hasn't happened so far. However, because Mara Kate screamed the entire time we were at the dentist he didn't get a good enough look at her teeth. He asked me to come back a month later after she was over the trauma of falling for a better look and her first real cleaning.

Her appointment was yesterday and Kane and I both had spent a lot of time trying to prepare her. We talked to her about going back to the dentist and told her all the dentist would do and that she needed to be a big girl and open her mouth so he could look inside and "count her teeth".
I really didn't have high hopes for yesterday's appointment based on our first experience a month ago, but she was perfect! I was shocked, but she did exactly what they hygeniest told her to do and she had her first official teeth cleaning. The dentist did count her teeth and told me she has all the teeth she should have on the bottom and that she will be getting 2 more molars on the top probably sometime in the coming months.

I had told Mara Kate before we went in that if she didn't cry and she let the dentist look in her mouth that I would give her a treat when we got back in the car. At one point during the cleaning she started to wince and pull away, so I reminded her of her treat and she opened right back up!

I was trying not to look overly surprised at how grown up she was acting, but inside I was very surprised. The dentist gave her a toothbrush to take home with her as well as a little plastic zipper bag to carry it in. She thought she was big stuff with her new toothbrush bag. They also gave her a coupon for a free kid's icecream from Chick-Fil-A, which she was very excited about. Since her appointment was in the morning before lunch I decided we would redeem the coupon later on. On the way home I told her I was proud of her and that I was SO HAPPY that she didn't cry. All afternoon she kept asking me, "Mommy happy?. It was so sweet.

Last night after Kane heard how well she did we decided to go out as a family to Chick-Fil-A so Mara Kate could get her ice cream. We told her it was a special treat from the dentist because she was such a big girl and did so well! We really were proud of her and she was so proud of herself too!

Mara Kate with her clean teeth and her icre cream!