Thirty-First Step

It was Clarissa's last day of Thursday school for the year, so afterward we decided to go out with a bang by visiting the DENTIST for the first time. Clare wasn't too scared, but said she didn't want to go. I told her she'd like it, kind of crossing my heart and hoping she wouldn't get upset and gag and puke (sorry for the imagery). She did great though, and my step for today was to talk with the dentist, not get flouride treatment that day, but research it more and decide for the next visit. I have read so many contradicting things about it--that the ADA says it is not that beneficial, that Dr. Mercola says it's harmful, and this dentist said if they are on city water he has really seen a difference vs. well water (that the flouride in city water definitely helps in his opinion). But he doesn't recommend ingested supplements, just topical application through toothpaste and the treatments at the office. We use Tom's of Maine children's toothpaste, which doesn't have flouride, but if we were to use a flouride one he said only put a pea-sized amount on the toothbrush and to be careful that the kids don't ingest too much, like eat the whole tube etc. Anyway, Clare did great and last night said she wanted to go to the dentist again (instead of brushing her teeth herself). Plus she got a cool 3-sided highlighter (Charlie did too, just for being good moral support and not grabbing a single electronic tool).

But I don't have conclusions about next time because I haven't done more research yet. Growing up I got flouride treatments and still had a ton of cavities (and just had my first crown/root canal a couple years ago), but the more I do my informal polling, the more I think that genetics play a big part in it. I floss everyday and definitely need to go every 6 months; my husband does NOT floss everyday and they gush about his great gums (I typed bums the first time, ha!) and teeth etc. and he only goes once a year. Not fair, but that's love and life in dental hygiene.