You are probably thinking "Abby has way too much time on her hands today" because this is my 4th post. But the girlies are all playing so well right now and I just made a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and we are packing up to go to the park soon. Kiwanas park if any of you locals want to meet us there in less than an hour from now. Kelly, Amber, Steph....anyone?
Anyway I have a parenting question for all of you. It is something I find interesting. Our dentist office refuses to clean children's teeth if they are crying. And they are not unique in this- I have heard this from others. Then I found out a hair salon here in town where I was going to take Avery refuses to cut children's hair if they are crying. Why? Both places feel it can traumatize the children making dentist and hair visits scary for the rest of their lives. Now I am all about child physchology, respecting children, treating them with the same respect we would for an adult, etc. etc. But I don't get this. Especially the dentist one. Wouldn't a cavity be MORE traumatizing? A needle, a drill, the pain? And you have to do that don't you? You can't let the teeth rot. So why not prevent it? I do care if they are scared or uncomfortable and feel bad but felt it was one of those situations where a little discomfort now would help in the long run. Kind of like vaccines. They do those if the children are crying!
We went to the dentist a year ago for Hailey and Karis. Karis did fine but Hailey refused. Mildly I might add. She was with Scott and he said fine and brought her to me. He is more of a softy than me. I said that is ridiculous, she is getting her teeth cleaned. She wasn't even crying at this point. The dental assistant gave me this big talk about how traumatizing it can be and we should just try again in a few months. I thought to myself if we don't make her do it she will build this up in her mind and it will be way worse than she imagines and it will just make it harder. Is anyone following my logic here? So another hygienist who has 5 kids by the way was working on me and quietly agreed to do it even if she cried. I promised her Hailey was not traumatized, I could tell, a little nervous, yes but not terrified. So she got her to open her mouth, quickly cleaned the teeth and all was well. Anyway just wanted to know...am I the meanest mom on earth for feeling this way?
4 comments:
i think kids need to experience something that they might think is scary, because you know that it's not. and you will be with her the whole time, right? plus, a cavity would be way more tramautizing and would they let her skip that if she was crying? although, what do i know, i only have one child.
I think it depends on the child's age. My dentist was kind of the same, in that he said he would see if they would open their mouths and go from there. He didn't even have me try bringing the kids in until they were 3. Fortunatly, mine all cooperated, although I think I had to encourage Danny. You can't wait forever! I could see if a child was absolutely hysterical, it might be better to wait, but a few tears are not that traumatizing!
Mine never cried...in fact they were jockying for position to get in the chair! But, I think that by the time they get over the fear it's about that time to get them cleaned. Before 3-4 it's not really an issue unless your kids are severe sugar eaters. It's fairly rare for a kid to have a cavity in baby teeth. You guys are pretty healthy...so I think you are probably ok. I don't see any reason for you to get them scared of the dentist. ;)
Thanks for the reminder, I think Ella has a cavity and I need to call our dentist! I am worried they won't let her come as they did mention the crying thing when I went last. Do you remember the lady's name that did Hailey?
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