20 Princess Teeth

If you are my friend on Facebook, you know that I took Bailey to the dentist this morning.  She has been once before.  My mom and Sid took her because she had a discoloration on one of her two front teeth that we were concerned about.  That turned out to be nothing, but I made my Mom go since she was the one that brought it to our attention and made me worry.  We've had a follow up appointment scheduled once or twice since then, but we didn't make the appointments. 

All I can tell you after this morning is that it sure is going to get tricky taking 3 babies/toddlers to the dentist because I will NEVER take more than one at a time.  We talked about going to the dentist over the weekend and that all they would do is brush her teeth.  Bailey was quite receptive to this and informed me each time that we talked about it that she wanted a pink toothbrush. 

As we pulled into the dentist office parking lot this morning, I hear from the back seat of the burb, "Dentist not hurt me mama."  I assured her that the dentist was not going to hurt her and that mama would not let the dentist hurt her.

Ten minutes later, my child was screaming "HELP ME MAMA! HELP ME! MAMA HELP ME" as not one, not two, but three of us held her down simply so that the tech could brush her teeth with the pink Dora toothbrush she had chosen moments before.  It was terrible.  If I had really thought they were hurting her, I probably would have told them forget it as emotional as I am these days. But I couldn't help but laugh as the one lady actually doing the brushing kept telling me over and over again how strong and strong willed Bailey was. 

That, my friends, is the understatement of the year!

It was over within a minute a two, as they also applied some sort of fluoride, and then we were busily digging in the treat bucket.  Much to our disappointment, we found no candy! 

Then along came the dentist to look at her teeth.  This time, it only took the two of us to let her look and count her teeth.  I mean, how can something this sweet and pretty have such a streak of whatever it is:

This was before we left this morning.  Ya'll see that band-aide on her leg on this next picture. Well, there are actually two band-aides on that leg and neither of them have any kind of boo boo underneath them. The problem is, they are some good band-aides and have been there no less than a week.  We cannot get them off and she will not let us pull at them.  She tells me I'm pinching her.

Singing, she LOVES to sing!  She sings things that we didn't even know she knew and she just randomly makes things up, too!

I was worried about two things going into this dentist visit.  #1 - the paci.  She still has a rather large love affair with her pink paci.  But that being said, she does not have it at daycare and Sid has broken her from wanting it in the car.  She rarely just walks around with it in her mouth, so she usually only gets it at home at nap and bed time. Still, her teeth have taken on the shape of the paci.  #2 - cavities.  I'm sure it's every parents nightmare of discovering that their beloved child has rotten teeth.  But Bailey doesn't have the best teeth brushing habits (even though we really do try, she just doesn't like toothpaste) and she eats candy all day long when she is at home or at her grandmother's house.  It has gotten to the point that I've had to tell Sid that we have to break that habit.  It's just not good when she gets up and goes to bed wanting candy.

I am happy to report that this sweet, pretty, happy in these pictures girl had ZERO cavities.  No problems noted on her dentist report card today. Praise the Lord!! I just knew those back teeth were going to have something that I couldn't see hidden in them.  And on the paci front, I learned that there is no reason to be concerned, even though her teeth have taken on the shape of the paci, because at this age, it's still normal.  A year from now and the same paci habits, we'll have a problem on our hands.  But for now, it's normal for her to have the habits that she does and no permanent damage, or damage that will require fixing, is being done.  Praise the Lord on that, too, because that is one less issue for me to worry about before the babies get here.

On a side note, the dentist did ask if I knew of anyone having babies soon.  Apparently,  I just looked large today and not almost 7 months pregnant with two babies.  When I told her, yeah -ME, she about fell out of the chair.  She suggested that we use that time period to let Bailey play the big sister role when they get here and "give" them her pacis.  She said that taking it away now would probably just cause her to regress when they got here since it is so soon.  We'll continue to limit it's use, but not be so hard on ourselves about it.

Here we are tonight, after the dentist and a good 3 hour nap for all.  I took these pictures at Bailey's request, so she is acting silly in them.  Yon can sort of see the roundness in her bite in this picture.

Funny girl!

And here we have the one thing I did get a lecture on today.  The sippy cup with juicee in it.  Apparently, 4 ounces of juice is all that the dentist recommends in the sippy cup so that sugar isn't deposited on the two front teeth.  Bailey doesn't drink anything else but her V8 Splash and Fusion and we do try to dilute it to part water, especially at night, but I'm just gonna have to let this piece of advice go for the moment. I mean, with 2 more babies that we are about to have to clean up after, Bailey with an open container is one I can avoid at the moment.  Six months from now, I'll probably pay for that!  (See the scar on her neck? She is just now noticing it.)

One final cheese for the camera!!!  The dentist counted her teeth in the middle of the screaming.  20!  10 on top and 10 on bottom, all in perfect condition equaled 20 princess teeth in our book!!!