Garrett's First Dental Check-Up

The kids had their bi-annual dental check-up and I continue to be very impressed with Dr. Jensen, whom we switched to at the beginning of this year.  Love his staff, love the professionalism, love the bedside manner, and love Dr. Jensen.  After a lot of hunting around, this practice seems to be the best fit for our family.  If anyone is in search of a great pediatric dentist, I highly recommend West Valley Pediatric Dentistry!   The whole office is done in an ocean theme with a big pirate ship play structure in the waiting area, and a large tropical fish tank with lots of "Nemos and Dorys" swimming around.  The kids call it "The Nemo Dentist".

Today was Garrett's first cleaning and to my shock and amazement, he did fantastically well!  Every single of of his four predecessors threw a fit, screaming and crying during their first visits at 2 1/2 years old.  I expected Garrett to be the worst of them all because he is such an emotional and very particular kid, but when it was his turn to have his teeth cleaned, he hopped right up on the bed and opened his mouth.  The hygienist put the head phones on him so he could watch a show on the ceiling, and he cooperated the entire time!  It was shocking.  Maybe he'll be easier at doing some stuff as he gets older because he has had to watch his older siblings do everything, thus making him an expert.  

He even sat perfectly still and followed all of the hygienist's directions when he got his xrays!

The downside of our visit is it was discovered that poor Hailey has two cavities.  Poor kid is practically my genetic clone, inheriting the good AND the bad.  I have been prone to cavities my entire life because of genetics, and I passed it on to her.  Because I have bad luck with cavities, I am a Nazi about oral hygiene.  Hailey had two cavities back in the spring and she has been so careful when brushing and flossing in these last several months because she did NOT want more cavities.  But, she has them anyway.

And it was discovered that poor Devin has a congenital condition called Molar Hypoplasia.  Basically when he was in utero and after he was born while his teeth were forming inside his gums, the enamel didn't form correctly and it's rapidly deteriorating.  On three of his molars he has horrible decalcification and several cavities.  All of this has come about in the last six months because it wasn't noticeable back in March.  We weighed the pros and cons of doing either fillings or crowns, and because of the severity of his condition, we have decided to put crowns on those three molars.  There is a high probability that his adult teeth will have the same problem.  Our poor kids can't catch a break with their teeth!  Hailey and Devin will go back next month to have their dental work done.

Ha ha, Dr. Jensen had just finished Garrett's exam and took his gloves off when I remembered I hadn't snapped a picture of them.  He said "Make sure you explain why I am not wearing gloves or I will get in trouble.  I'm not really doing an exam here!!"