First Trip to the Dentist - Stokes

We've taken the boys to the dentist office once before - a looooong time ago. William had this black spot on his teeth that wouldn't come off with brushing and I wanted to get cleaned so I made him an appointment. Looking back at it, he only had 2 teeth back then - LOL! Here's the blog post capturing that very first appointment: Cleaning his grill.

To make a long story short, we held off on getting the boys added to our dental insurance last year because I thought their first appointment was free, however, it turns out that's only the case if they're under 2 years old. Whoops. So then we had to wait for our next benefits enrollment cycle to avoid having to pay for 6 appointments a year out of pocket. We now have dental insurance for our entire family. Go us!

Instead of doing one big appointment with all 3, I made three separate appointments on three separate days, for the sake of my sanity. It also gives me an opportunity to have some one-on-one time with each one. Today was Stokes's appointment.

Y'all, it's been funny because we've told him about the dentist and they've heard about the dentist from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the movie. Remember how Hermey doesn't want to make toys but wants to be a dentist? We watched Rudolph just a few times over the holidays this year!!! ;) Anyway, Stokes knew he had a dental appointment coming up and he has been asking me about it almost daily. He points to random buildings on the way home from school and asks me if it was the dentist's office. He has really been into it!

He did great! The dental hygienist was so sweet and took the time to show him all of the tools and what everything does. She let him touch and try different tools and he thought he was hot stuff. They once again had sunglasses available since the light they use is bright.

Video games in the lobby!

Getting the intro to the equipment

Looking at his teeth in the mirror

Time to start

"Mr. Thirsty" - the suction

Enjoying himself

Cool dude

So happy with the Dentist!

Stokes got a great bill of dental health and enjoyed being there. After the appointment, I took him on a mama-Stokes lunch date and we got McDonald's before I dropped him back off at school. We had a great time - just the two of us!

Seeing how well he did and how easy the appointment was, I am totally looking forward to William's turn at the dentist. I'm sure he doesn't remember his first appointment since it was so long ago. I'm not, however, excited about Ryan's turn. He does OK allowing us to brush his teeth, but it took a while to get to that point and he's not a big fan of foreign objects in his mouth. He will gag and cry and even sometimes makes himself throw up. He also doesn't have the cognitive ability to follow instructions. I'm sure they've worked with special needs kids before, but I am still a bit worried.

Anyway, two thumbs up for Stokes's appointment. He was so great...and so proud of himself. I was so proud of him, too!
Oh, and one more thing, he used the potty at the dentist and I can count on one hand how many accidents he's had this week. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!