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The Benefits of Having a Family Dentist {Guest Post}


This is a sponsored post.

As a parent and as an adult, you know how important it is to care for your teeth and care for your child’s teeth. After all, good dental hygiene can help you have healthy teeth and gums and can also help ensure you reduce your risk of other illnesses, such as heart disease.

When it comes to dental care, choosing the right dentist is very important. Some people choose a pediatric dentist for their child and then a different dentist for themselves, and while this can work, it’s not always the best option. Having a family dentist instead of multiple dentists could be beneficial for your family, and here’s why:

You will build a relationship.
When you have a family dentist, you will build a relationship with your dentist. With small children, your child will be able to grow up with the same dentist, and this provides a sense of trust. It also means your child doesn’t need to find another dentist as they get older, and this can be extremely rewarding for your child. Plus, when a dentist is involved with your entire family, it provides a better sense of trust and respect over the years that you’ll come to appreciate.

You can receive a nice discount.
Even with insurance, dentists often apply discounts when applicable. With a family dentist, you may end up receiving discounts for having multiple people attend the same office. If you have a large family, this discount can be extremely beneficial to your budget.

Aside from discounts, your family dentist may also be more likely to work out a payment plan with you for more expensive procedures. For instance, if they know that you will come back on a regular basis, they will be more willing to break a large payment down into smaller increments to help you make your dental care more affordable.

You have a better sense of family history.
When a dentist sees you and your children, they have a better sense of your genetics and family history. This means they could recognize issues with your child’s mouth or gums that others may not have noticed, only because it’s something that you or your spouse had an issue with. Putting your children’s health in the hands of someone who will take the time to provide them with extra care.

It’s less scary for little ones.
The American Dental Association states that it’s a good idea to have your child start seeing a dentist at age one, but many parents often wait until a child is older. When your child is older, the dentist can be a scary place. However, if your young child has been to that dentist’s office and has seen you or older siblings receive treatment from that dentist, it can be less scary for them in the end. This can make going to the dentist easier on young children.

They’ll work with you.
When you have a family relationship with a dentist, the office will likely be more accommodating to your needs. For instance, they may be more willing to work around your schedule for procedures or fit in all of your children at one time. In addition, if your dental insurance were to change, many family dentists will often find a way to still work with you in order to not lose your business. If you want a dentist you can rely on, a family dentist is the right choice.

When it comes to your family’s dental needs, choosing a family dentist provides you with plenty of benefits you won’t find anywhere else. This is a sponsored post. 


Brinley Toddle Summary: 35 Months Old

This is what I found one day when I went to get her
up from her nap. She loves her books!
This is a summary for Brinley from 34.5-35 months old. This takes her up to one month before she turns three!

SLEEPING
Sleeping was good. She is staying in bed once I put her there. She isn't always thrilled to go to bed, but once she is there she is fine. 

EATING
Eating was also good. 

DENTIST
Brinley has also done very well with the dentist. She has not been a crier and she has done what they ask. We had a dentist visit during this period. She was not feeling cooperative. She didn't cry, but when the hygienist would ask her to open her mouth, Brinley would just look at her and shake her head no. After a few minutes of the nice hygienist trying to nicely ask Brinley to open her mouth, I went over to her, got my "mom face" on, and told her to open her mouth. She gave the hygienist a look. I am not sure how to describe it other than a very untrusting "Scuz." But she opened her mouth. All was well.

When I looked back on what I wrote her last trip (after the fact), I commented that kids can suddenly get scared so I had done some practice at home before our visit to the dentist. I didn't do that this time! I will have to remember my own advice next time around. 

BOOK THIEF
This girl loves books, which of course makes me happy. I am constantly removing books from her bed. When she is awake, she will spend time putting more books into her bed to look at during nap time.

Sometimes she thinks if she hides like this, I won't see her for nap time.

VACATION
We had a fun vacation this month. We went to Breckenridge, Colorado. It was about a ten hour drive to get there. Brinley was super good for the drive. She played with little princesses, looked at books, listened to music, played with ponies, listened to books on "tape," and did some PBS show watching. She slept well while we were there. Everyone was in need of a bit of vacay detox when we got back, but we made it through.

Panning for gold in Colorado

SWIMMING LESSONS
Brinley started swimming lessons this month. Her first lesson went really well! She was nervous. I think when we went to California last Fall and she "tumbled in the waves" it made her a bit nervous around water. She is kind of like a little orangutan baby clinging to her teacher, but she isn't crying or anything. 


SCHEDULE
This is her typical daily schedule for summer--not a lot of structure.

8:45 AM--Wake up/Breakfast/Get ready
Sometime between breakfast and lunch, have Independent play for 60-90 minutes
12:00 PM--Lunch
1:30/2:00 PM--Nap
4:30/5:00 PM--Wake up and Free Playtime
5:30 PM--Dinner
6:00 PM--Family Time
8:00 PM--Get Ready for Bed
8:30 PM--Bedtime

During the day, we will do learning activities, play outside, go for walks, go to the park, go do other fun stuff...what we do each day has varied a lot so far.

HELPFUL BOOKS
This list contains affiliate links.

Brinley Toddler Summary: 27.5 Months Old


This is a summary for Brinley from 27-27.5 months old.

SLEEPING
Sleeping was great! This was during a time of the time change, and she did really well with it. She adjusted well and quickly.

EATING
Eating was good and normal. Her favorite food right now, hands down, is yogurt and granola. She totally loves it. The food throwing was really a non-issue during this time period.

PLAYING
Playing was good. She really was just all around pleasant during this time. 

TIME CHANGE
Like I said above, the time change was during this time and she handled it really well. We weren't able to do any prep before. It gets hard to slowly transition when you have older kids who have certain schedules they adhere by (like school). She is a flexible person, though, and did great. 

DENTIST
We went to the dentist during this time and she did really well there. She has always handled the dentist well. I think kids can do well and then suddenly be scared, though, so I did some practice that morning. We talked about going and I pretended to be the dentist and she was the patient. She probably would have been fine, but I have had scared kids at the dentist and I wanted to do what I could to have the best experience possible. While there, there was a little girl about Brinley's age who was super scared and crying. Her mom said she was great last time, so she figured she would be fine again. It is always a good idea to mentally prepare children for things like this. Sometimes, they will still be scared with preparation, but most of the time, it helps immensely.

TRIP TO CALIFORNIA
At the end of this period, we took a trip to California. We drove there. A lot of people who drive from Utah to California split it up and stay in St. George or Las Vegas overnight on the way, but we really didn't want four days of travel. So we decided to just drive straight through. It was a 12.5 hour drive. 

Brinley did awesome. The furthest she has gone is 3.5 hours, so this was a huge risk on our part. We had no idea how she would do. We ended up getting there at about 1 AM our time (midnight their time). Then we had to unload and get kids in beds. If I did it again, I would have had a little bag packed with their pjs and anything they needed that night so we could have just unpacked that one bag and put them to bed. 

Brinley did not sleep in the car at all the whole way there. It was no surprise--she has not slept in the car since she was a very young newborn. So she missed her nap AND didn't get to bed until close to 2 AM her time. Crazy. 

That night, she was super hot. It is always a good idea when traveling to bring pjs for cool nights and hot nights. You never know how it will be, and over the course of our trip, she had a lot of variety of nights. We were able to dress accordingly.

The next day, we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was a great activity to do after a long drive and super late night. She was very tired, but really enjoys animals and only had one meltdown, which I considered a win. We saw all but four animals and left two hours before they closed so we could get her down at a good time for bed. 

We stayed in a condo in Oceanside. When we got back, we went to the beach to check it out. She was very cautious. She finally got brave enough to go just outside of the reach of the waves. She played in the sand. Well, a wave snuck up eventually and washed over her. She held her ground and kept her wits about her and got out of the water, but she kept a much further distance from the edge of the water from that time forward.

The rest of the trip will be in her next summary :). The zoo day was her only bad day with a meltdown of any kind. Pretty amazing.


SCHEDULE

8:45 AM--Wake up/Breakfast
9:15 AM--Get ready
9:30 AM--Walk
10:30 AM--Outside Time
11:00 AM--Independent Playtime
12:15 PM--Lunch
12:45 PM--Learning Activity
1:00 PM--Sibling play with McKenna
1:30 PM--Nap
5:00 PM--Free Playtime
5:30 PM--Dinner
6:00 PM--Family Time
7:30 PM--Get Ready for Bed
8:00 PM--Bedtime

HELPFUL BOOKS
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Brinley Pre-Toddler Summary: 14.5 Months Old

Brinley at a soccer game of Brayden's

This is a summary for Brinley for 14-14.5 months old.

EATING
Eating went on pretty much as usual over the last couple of weeks. One change is she is totally done with being spoon fed. She wants to eat foods she can eat herself. 

PLAYING
Playing was good over this two week period, also. 

SLEEPING
This was our big event this period. She has often been the type to fuss for a few seconds even up to a few minutes when I put her down for a nap or night. Nothing big or concerning, but not the peaceful roll over and go to sleep I am used to with my other children. I have wondered if it is because she doesn't suck anything for comfort? 

But during this period, this "fussing" turned more into crying. I always take a change in normal behavior pre-sleep to mean something needs to change or the child is sick or otherwise afflicted. So I thought about things and decided she likely needed a waketime length change. I have long hypothesized she would be one to drop to one nap a day as a 14 month old. However, I know negative things can happen to sleep overall if you move sooner than the child is ready, so I tried something else first.

I moved her naps so they started 15 minutes later but ended at the same time. This did the trick! She stopped being upset before naps and before bed and took two naps as usual.

SICK
An interesting thing in conjunction with what I just talked about is she did get sick during this period. We had a fever run through our house and she got it, too. It happened after the nap change. On her worst day, she slept a lot longer for naps.

DENTIST
We had our first dentist visit! I was completely shocked but she didn't cry and she laid on the normal dentist chair/bench thing and opened her mouth. She is my first child who didn't go back to the back room for the first visit due to the crying. It was pretty exciting! This is a benefit of having older siblings go first and her observe them.

I learned some interesting things about her teeth/gums. I told the dentist how her teeth seem to push on the gums forever and then finally pop through and look like they have been through for a week or two. He said some children have more collagen in their gums than others. For children with lots of collagen, the teeth push and push against those gums before they finally break through, so once they do, they look like they have been through longer than they have. 

And that explains why her teething seems to last so long (it does) and why she is not what I call a "graceful teether." I feel bad for her! And I really, really, really, really dread the K9s and the molars. Really.

SCHEDULE
8:45--sippy of milk, fruit, cereal, yogurt, finger foods. Independent Playtime happens in this block.
11:15--nap starts
12:45--wake up, sippy with solids (veggie, fruit, other foods we are eating)
3:15--nap starts
5:00--wake up, sippy with solids (veggie, fruit, dinner) 
7:30--bottle, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00-8:30.


When to start dentist check-ups

image source
I think the age for when is  best to start dentist visits is one of the most varied in all of parenting advice. You have the experts saying everything from "no later than first birthday" to "start thinking about it at age 3." On Becoming Babywise Book Two suggests you start no later than age one. They actually suggest when the first tooth comes in, but say to get the "well baby dental checkup" in by age one (page 111).

We take our children to a pediatric dentist. He suggests starting at age one. From age one up until three, they clean teeth with a toothbrush, check for possible problems, and do basic evaluations. Our dentist likes by age one so he can spot any possible problems early on. He also likes it so the child gets used to going there. At age three, they move on to real cleanings with the real tools--although if the child is super comfortable, they will start earlier than age three. McKenna was so comfortable at the dentist that they did a "real" cleaning on her at age 2.5. 

Our family practice dentist has a different policy on young children and the dentist. He likes them to come, sit on the chairs and get comfortable with the office. He does not start any real cleanings or check-ups until age three. 

So what do we do? We start at age one. I really don't see a reason not to. We do have dental insurance, so cost is not a factor. I am sure if we had to pay for it I would be a little more hesitant to take the one year old in. But I agree with the idea presented in Babbywise Book Two that they are "well-check" visits. I take my children to their well-check doctor visits even if nothing is wrong with them, so I view the dentist as no different. 

Some reasons for taking by age one include:
  • It makes early detection and prevention possible if there are any problems. "Infants and toddlers woh suffer from decay are more likely to continue to have issues with this disease into their permanent teeth" (page 111).
  • Parents can be informed of possible problems and what to do about it. For Brayden and Kaitlyn, there were no issues. McKenna had a couple of things we needed to watch. In the end, the two things we were watching corrected on their own, but I was glad we had taken her at age one so we could correct them if intervention was needed.
  • Children can get comfortable with the dentist.
  • It follows the "start as you mean to go on" mentality.
Some sources say you can wait until two or even three if you follow general rules. They are:
  • Do not put baby in bed with a bottle of juice or milk.
  • Move baby from bottle to cup.
  • Limit juice and milk intake. Have those at regular meal and snack times and offer water between meals.
  • Do not have night feedings.
  • Clean teeth at home. Toothpaste isn't necessary (and you don't want to use fluoride toothpaste until your child can spit it out and not swallow it). 
Those rules are pretty easy to follow for a Babywise baby. If you follow those rules, you might not need to go to the dentist at age one.

So what do you do? What age do you start the dentist? Why? Do you view dentist visits as a needed habit or something you do more sporadically?

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Toddler Summary: 32 Months Old


McKenna is now 2.5 plus two months. 

EATING
Eating is all normal. She still eats well and eats a lot of food.

PLAYING
She is getting more and more imaginative with her play all of the time. She is an imaginative person, and inventive with her games.

She is OBSESSED with backpacks right now. I am sure it is because she wants to be like Brayden and Kaitlyn. She fills her backpack up with Legos (duplos) and then runs everywhere she goes. And thus you hear a "chink, chink, chink, chink" as she is on the move :). 

SLEEPING
Sleep is good and normal. She goes to bed at about 8 PM and gets up between 8-8:30 AM. She takes a nap each day for about 3 hours. Sometimes 2.5, sometimes 3.5. 

DENTIST
You would not believe how brave she was at the dentist. I guess it isn't true bravery if you aren't scared in the first place? She was so nonchalant about it. They had her lay on the real dentist chair for the first time this visit. She did without being concerned. Then she opened her mouth and let them clean her teeth with their tools. The dentist was shocked. He had never had someone that age be so unconcerned about the whole thing, and I know my older two definitely didn't! 

EAR INFECTIONS
One day this past month she really pushed me to my limit. She was so very grumpy and did everything she should not do. Really driving me crazy. I knew this was very unlike her, so I took her to the doctor. I felt a little silly that her symptom was grumpiness and disobedience, but I knew something was wrong. I am not one who brings her kids in over small things, so no one gave me a look like I was crazy. Plus I think you earn some clout as you have multiple children. 

I was right! She had a double ear infection. No fever, no complaining. She was eating well and sleeping well. But she was grumpy and not herself so I knew something was wrong. She went on another run of antibiotics  and next week I will be taking her in to be checked again. If she has an infection again, we will be looking at tubes. If anyone has any tube experience and input, please share! After a day, she started to return to her happy self and is now just a joy. It has been a while since we have had just happy McKenna because she had a couple of months of teething followed by one to two months of ear infections, so it is nice to have the sweet (and spunky) girl back. And nice is an understatement.

TOO MANY FREEDOMS
A common problem around this age is coming into too many freedoms. See this post for a full breakdown: The Choice Addiction (for Toddlers) :http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2008/03/choice-addiction-for-toddlers.html. One day, my husband and I came to the conclusion that part of McKenna's behavior issues were that she had too many freedoms. It is very easy to do, and I think it is especially easy to do when you have older children. It is easiest to just let everyone have mostly the same level of freedoms, but it is not the best. I have a post on this, too: Siblings and the Funnel :http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2009/02/siblings-and-funnel.html .

We stripped everything down so she had no freedoms for an afternoon. Then we started adding age-appropriate freedoms back in. The interesting thing is that she immediately improved. She did not fight the freedom restriction and she immediately improved her behavior.

CHRISTMAS TREE
She is doing really well with the Christmas tree and not touching it. This year, her ornament was Elmo, and as you can see from the picture above, she super loves it. That was when she was putting it up on the tree when we were decorating. Every time she walks in the room she cheers that we have a tree, that Elmo is on it, and that it is "sparkly." 

TIME CHANGE
McKenna handled the time change well. It did not go as smoothly as I had expected, but she hadn't had prep and also had the ear infections going on, so it is understandable. After a couple of days, she was back to normal.

LOOKING AHEAD
We will be making another run at potty training this next month. Yes, yes I am crazy to do it during December. I know it. Sometimes I can't help myself. It just seems like the right moment.

OUR SCHEDULE
1-3 days a week, this schedules is disrupted due to school drop offs and pick ups. I still need to perfect what it will be for the school year. Now that we have been in school for a month, I think I have a better idea for what we should do.

8:00--Wake up and eat breakfast
9:15--Get ready
9:30--Chores
10:00--Learning Poster and read stories with Mommy
10:30--Independent Play
11:30--TV time possibly
12:00--Lunch
12:30--Learning activity and free play with sibling
1:30--Nap
4:00 or 4:30--Get up--or free play. 
5:30--Dinner
6:00--Family Activities
7:30--Get ready for bed
8:00--Bedtime

FAVORITE TOYS
Her favorites are the same as last month. She added the backpack and Legos. From last month: She loves the grocery cart a lot. A baby stroller and all doll stuff is another huge hit. She also really likes the little people toys. 

GOOD BOOKS/WEBSITES

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In Action: Training In Non-Conflict plus Ask & Tell

We recently took another trip to the dentist. As a child, I never minded the dentist. I even liked the dentist. As a mother, I hate the dentist. Our pediatric dentist is a nice man and the kids love him--so no, it is not him. It is the juggling of crying children and trying to talk them into having their teeth cleaned or at least looked at.

One of the worst days of my life as a parent happened about six months ago. I took Brayden and Kaitlyn to the dentist with the help of my mom. Brayden had had surgery on his thumb about 9 months earlier, and ever since had been terrified of the dentist. I don't know why. He didn't show fear of the doctor, but something about the dentist reminded him of the surgery experience.

Both children just cried the entire time and we were unable to do anything other than brush with a toothbrush. Now, I don't really mind that aspect. We have insurance, so I wasn't out any more money than we already pay. I also am not terribly concerned about good cleanings at this age. What I didn't like was the crying and not listening to me.

But I understood. Brayden was terrified and Kaitlyn looks up to Brayden and follows his lead. He was scared so she was scared.

While we were there, I noticed I was literally the only mom having more than one child visit the dentist that day. Not the only one with more than one child there, but the only one with more than one child having a check up. I wondered if I was crazy to try to do them both at the same time. And what would I do when McKenna joined the ranks?!?!?

I decided then and there that we would take separate visits to the dentist.

But as the day approached for our next visit, two sides came out. Side one is logical me. Logical me thought about all of the wasted time I would spend driving there, being there, driving back, driving there, being there, driving back, driving there, being there, driving back. Whew! That was time wasted just typing it out ;)

Side two was stubborn me. Stubborn me said I could do this. Sure, Brayden was scared. But I have the tools to make this a pleasant experience for everyone. I didn't want to take the route of making it one long miserable day for our family [especially me] twice a year. If it was going to be miserable, it could be miserable for 1-2 hours total instead. My driving time alone back and forth for three kids would be about 1.5 hours....we could do this.

So, as usual, logical me and stubborn me won out over whoever that other me is. I set the appointment for all three children at the same time. Oh boy.

But stubborn me does not go beyond my own limits. Logical me informed my husband of the date and told him to take the day off. We were having a family dentist trip.

In the weeks before the appointment, I talked to Brayden about it. I told him he would be going to the dentist. I employed ideas of training in times of non-conflict and also ask & tell. I reminded him of what would happen there. I told him how I wanted him to behave and how I didn't want him to behave. I told him I knew he got nervous, and I understood, but that they wouldn't hurt him and he needed to let them clean and look at his teeth.

We marked the date on his calendar in his room. We practiced on him and let him practice on me.

About a week before, I started the same process with Kaitlyn.

Another good thing we did is my neighbor got in on it. She talked about how great it was to go to the dentist. Her children go to the same dentist, and her son a little more than a year older than Brayden talked about how he thought the dentist was cool because you get a prize when you are done "if you are good."

Brayden was ready.

He was awesome. He hopped up all brave. He opened as big as he could and he let them clean his teeth. He was perfect. I have zero complaints about the whole process. I think that from this point forward, he will be at a point where an adult presence will not be necessary for him, which is great since there are two adults and three children currently.

Kaitlyn acted brave until it was time. She started off amiable, but then she clamped shut and refused. It might have been the hygienist. She was fine until they switched on her. She also might have just reached her breaking point. She was also fine for the dentist. Kaitlyn still has room for improvement, but she was far better. I think next time, I need to do more prep work with her like I did for Brayden this time.

You can practice with a one year old, but you can't mentally prepare a one year old with talk. Just by doing. She did as well as I would hope. She cried, but I think that is actually best because then she opened her mouth :) She didn't cry for the dentist (do you see why I like him? He has a magic touch).

So you can see how well ask and tell as wel as training in times of non-conflict can work. It just takes a little bit of forethought.

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