It Ain't Easy being.....Brave (part two)

Earlier this week, I described the first half of our most recent visit to the Dentist. I left off with the waiting.....waiting...waiting. I know I'm not the only one that looks forward to all the waiting with a squirmy young child that trips to a doctor or dentist provides, right? RIGHT?

Anyhow, Sugar Bear survived the waiting, and was finally greeted by Dr. Liann.   We like her.  She is very easy going, and friendly.  Soon, she had Sugar laid back, and ready for her check up.

She started off by saying all sort of things rather quietly and quickly about her bite, and spacing between teeth, and Stephanie wrote it all down.  

Neither Sugar, nor I, really knew what she was talking about, but it summed up to all things looking good in the growth and development department. THUMBS UP!

Dr. Liann let Sugar Bear look into the little mirror for a bit before proceeding.  From the looks of it....she liked what she saw, huh?

Then the fun part.  As Dr. Liann checked each tooth, she named an animal that corresponds with the letter of each tooth.  It was Sugar Bear's favorite part.   All of this has been done before, and wasn't anything to be anxious about. 

Unfortunately, they did want to try to capture some X-rays of each side of her mouth.  Being that I am very aware of how delightful the bitewings are (NOT), I was really hoping Sugar would be successful.  Going into it, she was in good spirits.  The "heavy apron" was something she remembered.

However, the thing she REALLY remembered, and was anxious to see again was.......SPONGEBOB. Sigh....

They didn't disappoint. Spongebob was there....and ready to provide a visual target during the X-ray process. Stephanie careful placed the bitewings, and helped Sugar bite down on them. I could see her eyes widen, and knew she was experiencing the icky part. The moment when you realize that the sharp edges of the bitewing is poking the roof of your mouth, and the underneath side of your tongue. You want to open your mouth, but you aren't supposed to. I could see it in her eyes, and Stephanie wasn't saying anything. I was urged to make a move, and come to Sugar's rescue. I knew she need acknowledgment that it isn't fun, but it would be over quickly if she just powered through. That is a HARD lesson for us all, let alone a 3 year old. HOWEVER, as I made my move, wildly searching my vocabulary for the right words. As if in slow motion, I had this mental image of the movie, "Monsters,Inc", when that one monster comes out of the kids room, and has a sock on his back. I could just imagine that if I uttered the word, "HURT" in this place, the staff would be on me like the DEA was on that monster. I was VERY certain it wasn't allowed to talk about "pain" or "hurting", so I said to my sweet girl with the big eyes, "Honey, I know it is....ummmm....uncomfortable, but just bite down, and it will be over fast! hurry...look at SpongeBob. You can do it!" and rushed behind the wall to avoid zapping my body with radiation. Then we did it again. I'm proud to say, that the x-rays came out clear, and the tears the filled Sugar's eyes to the very brim did not fall. She is a brave little honey!

With a bit of trepidation she asked, "Are we done now?"  To which Stephanie replied that she still needed to paint Sugar's teeth with flouride.  This is familiar, and while not all that enjoyable, she knew it didn't "HURT", so she put on a brave, fake smile, and endured.

Rock on Sugar Bear!  Only 6 months until we do it again!  Woo Hoo!  The good news....we got an A+, and we won't be visiting SpongeBob for at least a year!  THUMBS UP!