Dental Trouble
It was my turn to take the kids to their dental appointments. My 6 year old daughter E and 4 year old son C needed to go for an inspection and cleaning. We have been preparing the kids to sit still during the teeth cleaning portion and it was especially important for E because she has some of her adult teeth already.
The night before, C wakes me up since his diaper was leaking just a bit and he felt uncomfortable. Of course the one day we all had to get a lot of sleep and wake up early, this happens. I change him and it took a while for me to fall back asleep, but luckily C knocked out right away.
I get up before everyone else and get breakfast ready. I wake E and C up after letting them sleep in a bit longer and we hustle to change, brush teeth, potty, and head out of the door. In the commotion and rush, I didn’t use the portable tire inflator I bought the day before to pump up our flat tire so we could drive the car. I ended up just driving on the tire because we were going to be late and the tire was at 22 PSI (so it could have been worse!).
We made it to the dentist a bit late, but everything started out fine. When the kids were settled, I pumped air in the tire and headed back in when it was done. Towards the end of the appointment, the dentist said E had 3 very small cavities in the back molars of her teeth. They had to treat it and I was a bit sad because C had small cavities at the previous cleaning that needed to be treated also. I thought we made some good changes to try and limit the gummy treats and vitamins from being eaten too far away from brushing their teeth.
It turns out the dentist said their teeth had a lot of grooves in them. It’s genetic and makes them prone to cavities. We also need to focus on the back molars and spend extra time there. 10 seconds brushing per tooth and to hold the toothbrush vertically when brushing the front of their teeth to get the extra plaque off the front set of teeth (both the backside and frontside). We will change up the brushing routine some more by spending more time brushing, improving the technique, and making sure me or my wife brush their teeth in the mornings instead of the kids having the morning shift (to mainly learn how to brush their teeth themselves). Hopefully the extra changes help and that they don’t end up with more cavities!
