Astrid's 1st Dental Checkup

We've been brushing Astrid's teeth religiously and hoping that she inherited my good teeth gene (no cavities - my dentist says they need to do research on people like me), and wanted to get her teeth checked just to make sure everything was a-okay. All of the photos that the staff took came out blurry. Oh well.

Astrid cried at first when she saw the dental hygienist with her mask on (who came in to say hi), but she eventually calmed down (although still scared). I sat in the dental chair and she sat on my lap, while the pediatric dentist checked her teeth, as Arthur (the PBS cartoon) played on the overhead flat screen TV.We love our dentist but he only works on adults, so we saw the pediatric dentist who also shares his office. When she walked in she didn't even introduce herself so I had to ask her if she was the pediatric dentist. Astrid did not want to open her mouth (was scared) and the dentist just kept saying, "Let me count your teeth and see how many teeth you have" so I told her Astrid has 20 teeth. She responded, "I know how many teeth she should have at her age." Whoa.

Her teeth are in great shape. No cavities (although we had a scare when the dentist saw a black spot and said she found a cavity, but after my protests, she realized it was a black seed from a cracker she ate).

When she told me about the evils of juice, I told her that Astrid doesn't drink any juice (just water and milk). After hearing this she told me about the evils of juice 3 more times as if she hadn't heard me.

When I asked the dentist about cleaning Astrid's teeth she said, "I would but I don't think she will like it." Okay then. The only good bit of information she provided is that the back molars start pushing up when kids are around 3 years old (they don't come through until around age 5), but they push all the teeth in the front closer together and it's uncomfortable.

That makes sense because: Once Astrid threw such a nasty tantrum for no reason and then grabbed her mouth like she was in pain. As soon as I understood she was irritated by the pain in her mouth - I started asking her about her teeth, and if she'd like me to massage her gums. She completely did an about face and said, "Yes, mommy please." The gum massage to the back seemed to help a bit. The best part of the dental visit - the toy chest!Astrid got to pick out a few treats.A plastic monkey toy and two small erasers.Relieved that her teeth are doing great and no cavities or any issues. But we do need to find a better pediatric dentist. Someone who is great with kids and just all around friendlier/nicer. We have some time in that we don't need to be back for another year.