So, what to do when Ginna and Max are overdue???
Ginna was not excited about spending a Saturday morning in the hospital getting her teeth cleaned, but Max was pumped. We started with Max. This wasn't his first time, but he is surprisingly wiggly and not that easy to treat. I'm also surprisingly less patient with him. The infection control was not what you'd usually see at the office, but I at least used gloves.
I used some behavior management techniques I don't usually use with other people's kids also. For example: the arm hold.
I routinely treat kids much younger than Max doing things way more invasive than just a cleaning, so I was annoyed when Max was giving me a hard time just sitting in the chair. Then, I realized that if I treated him like any other scared kid, he might do fine. And he did
First I disclosed his teeth to see where the plaque was. He thought the little pink tablets were treats. Then, I let him play with the "robot toothbrush".
I washed out his teeth and let him practice using the special straw that drinks from you.
Soon, it was business time:
After I cleaned all the pink off his teeth, I gave him the old scratching, clicking, picking exam. It was refreshing to pick around and not find any cavities, unlike my typical exams that may have more cavities than teeth.
We have these really goofy Statue of Liberty sunglasses to help the kids eyes not burn away under the treatment light.
Max really liked the glasses.
We finished up with the classic bubble gum flavored fluoride treatment and it was on to Ginna. She didn't let Max use her camera to take embarrassing pictures of her getting the same treatment. But here's and idea of what she was seeing.
We finished up Ginna without Max touching too many things he shouldn't have. And the Ginna teeth had no cavities either. That's important because we have an image to uphold, right?
Before going home we spent some time in my office. I worked on some stuff while Max got to play on Brian's computer (my co-resident). Max loves the hospital. If only he could go to work in my place.
5 comments:
Dr Kris
Thanks for walking us through the procedure. Very insightful to treat Max like any other scared kid. And congrats on no cavities. Good thing Max didn't get my dental genes.
Grampa Guy
It's interesting how we have less patience, and less of a tendency to entertain and persuade our own children. I am impressed that you took a step back and readjusted yourself to make this work. I can remember taking that same step back - I remember how the reset felt, the tone of my voice changing, the forward impulsion suddenly cancelled. I'm proud of you. And I'm proud of Gin for having no cavities. I was without dental lesions until I was about twelve, and then only had about two. Then I got married and pregnant and had braces, and everything changed. But still, somehow, I feel like we are the people with good teeth. Good work, Dr.
Cool to see the process. And I suddenly wished Dan was a dentist. I've never wished that before. But it would be nice to go to someone that you really really really trusted.
Just don't let them go to Sunny Side Dental. That place sucks.
It was weird how uncomfortable Max was with it all--especially considering how often he's there. And he's had exams before. AND he doesn't have anything negative to associate with the experience like I do!
Kris did a great job easing him into it though, and although I didn't want to spend my whole sat there it didn't take as long as I was worried it might!
And we had the whole place to ourselves. And Kris got to wear a hat. How often does that happen?
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