Watch out for sugar bugs

There's a variety of opinions out there on the appropriate time for your child to first visit the dentist. Some people say to take them as soon as you see teeth, others say anywhere from 1-4 years old. We added our boys to our dental insurance after they were a year old, just in case of emergency, but there is no general consensus on what the best course of action is.

Justin's preschool had a dentist come as a special guest and talk about teeth, going to visit the dentist, etc. What was really nice about this is that the dentist did a quick peek inside each child's mouth and sent home a report on what they found, if anything. Justin's paper said that there was a "suspicious" area on one of his teeth, and recommended a dental checkup. Since I was due for a visit myself, I just made an appointment for Justin to get things checked out.

He wasn't scared at all. The staff was careful not to keep us waiting long at all, and let him bring back one of the toys he was playing with back to the exam room. The hygienist talked to him all the way through, and gave him a step-by-step description of what they were going to do so that he knew what to expect. They gave him some sunglasses to wear while they were cleaning his teeth, to keep the spray out of his face. He did a great job!




The bad part was, he did have a cavity. Without the impetus from the cursory check he got at school, we wouldn't have visited the dentist yet and the cavity could have gotten worse. I made an appointment to take him in 2 weeks later to have the cavity filled. I asked if they would sedate him for the appointment, to which the reply was no. However, I was assured that the dentist was exceptional with children, and that it would go very quickly and not be a traumatic experience for Justin.

Well, they were wrong! Despite the dentist's best efforts to keep Justin calm, there's nothing about having your mouth numbed that is OK with a 3 year old child. That shot of Novocain put him over the edge and he had a lot of trouble sitting still.



Unfortunately, I couldn't even hold him in my lap for the procedure. The dentist did manage -- somehow -- to get the tooth filled. But he wasn't able to do it as efficiently as he would have liked, and warned that we will need to keep an eye on it because it might not stay in as long as it should. He threw up his hands in the middle of the procedure and said, "I can't do this." Not what a parent wants to hear. That was the whole reason I asked about sedation before making the appointment! Apparently, there is a pediatric periodontist across the street who could have done this for us, complete with some nice happy juice ahead of time. Next time, we'll be the wiser. For now, it is over and Justin was not too traumatized. He does brush his teeth religiously, because he doesn't want any more sugar bugs to try to live in his mouth!