What is it with dentists?!

Why do dentists stir up the fear inside children? There's something about dentists as take your child to the doctor or hospital & they are not too bad but from the minute you walk into a dentist building there's something that immediately makes them go all quiet, cry or scream! 

Its easy to understand why older children & adults say they hate dentists as they know once you get into the dental chair it can stir up a lot of fears - pain, needles, loud noises, feeling confined, the sound of dental equipment and so on...but a very young child like Roo you would think they would be none the wiser but nope they get the fear once they see the dentist and that room!!

Such was the case with Roo... He has been to see our normal dentist 2 times and the minute we go into the room he goes completely silent, eyes go wide...once the dentist starts to talk Roo gives him what I call the "death stare" & when he sees the dentist move his hand towards his mouth he will clench his mouth shut so hard that you can see his muscles in his face! This is a child who struggles to bite properly into food due to weak mouth muscles but take him to a dentist and you realise that he is actually got some strength to keep his mouth clenched so that the dentist has no option but to give up!!

So the woman who came to visit from the Community Learning Disability Team decided to refer Roo to a specialist dentist who works with sn children.. the appointment was 2 wks ago...

We arrived at the centre and Roo was fine until we got to the waiting room of the dental area and he started crying, whinging, moaning! Nothing would distract him - it was that dentist thing again..he just knew - I think it must be the smell of dentists!! His name is called and we go through to the room and we sit on the chair with Roo clinging onto me for dear life! The dentist was really nice & we had a talk about everything ...she showed me how to try and brush his teeth as he never had his teeth brushed as he wont tolerate a brush nr his mouth!! She tried to get him to open his mouth but he wasn't having it so she manged to push her finger into the side of his cheek which made him open his mouth as he normally doesn't like anything in his mouth unless its food! She managed to have a quick look, told me that he would need his teeth painted to protect them due to him having reflux and not being a regular brusher so we go back in December as he has to be 3 before he can get that treatment.

She then got this big, scary looking gigantic set of gnashers that she wanted Roo to touch which of course he refused! No wonder with her snapping those big gnashers in front of him! That alone would be enough to scare anyone let alone a 2 yr old!!

Next she got me to sit in the scary dentist chair ( can you tell I hate dentists?! ) and Roo sat on my lap while the assistant played with the buttons to move the chair up and down... all this was to help to familiarised Roo with dental equipment and needless to say he was not impressed at all as once the chair was back down I lifted him off me to stand while I got off and he wobbled as fast as his wee legs could take him to the door , turned and looked at me as if to say "please get me out of here!" 

Not a great experience but not too bad on the whole... at least its 6 mths till the next one and she thinks she can get him to open up to let her paint stuff on his teeth?! Good luck is all I have to say!