Jack survived his first visit to the dentist…(by Betsy)

Not only did he survive his first trip, he loved it! Matt and I kept telling him how cool the dentist is and that the dentist would clean his teeth with a noisy toothbrush. He seemed pretty excited about going, so we scheduled his first appointment at a pediatric dentist in Fort Wayne.
When Jack and I arrived, I happily discovered that there was a HUGE waiting room with a playset, slides, and lots of fun toys. I was immediately impressed! Then I started filling out all the initial paperwork and discovered that parents have to stay in the waiting room during the dental exam. I thought “Surely I will be allowed to go back there, he is only 3!”
Then they called his name and a very nice woman came out with us and explained everything that would happen and got Jack really excited about it. She told me that I could come back and see where he would be, but that I would need to stay in the waiting room during the exam and cleaning. They have this policy so that the kids aren’t clinging to mom and dad when it is time to look in their mouth. Makes sense, but I still didn’t want to leave him all alone! She showed us the x-ray room where they do digital x-rays (he would be in the x-ray chair for less than a minute total). Next she showed us a huge room with eight kid-sized dental chairs where they do the exam, cleaning, and other fun stuff. There was a bunch of toys and fun things to look at during his exam. It was good to see that all the kids are in one big room together rather than individual rooms. Jack seemed fine with everything so I gave him a “high-5” and hesitantly walked back out to the waiting room. Oh yah, and she told me that it would take about 45 minutes for the entire visit. I thought she was kidding, because that seemed like a long time for a kid to have his mouth examined!
Well, exactly 45 minutes later, they called me back and I went to a consultation room where Jack was waiting for me. He was so excited and he said “MAMA, LOOK AT MY CLEAN TEETH!!!” and he was just beaming! His teeth did look good! He had a handful of fun little toys and he told me a few things that happened during his appointment. The dental hygienist said that Jack did “extremely well for his age” and he was cracking them up the entire time he was back there. I believe that, because he can be quite a little ham around strangers. He had no cavities and everything checked out just fine! She said they cleaned his teeth for 20 minutes and they also used that scraper tool to remove any plaque/tartar (whichever one it is…) and he did just fine. I just wish I could have watched him during his appointment. I was okay with not standing right next to him, but I still wanted to see what was going on!
So, I sighed a huge sigh of relief and got a little teary-eyed because he suddenly seemed so grown up! He said “Thank you, good-bye, dentist!” and we were off! Well, we did have to stop and play on the playset in the waiting room on our way out. I was just so darn proud of him!
In the car he said “Mommy, I did cry a little bit for you, but I was okay.” He also mentioned that “They squirted water in my mouth and a little bit got in my eye and that was silly!”
Another one of “life’s first experiences” that we can check off the list for Jackson!