Today I officially won the LOSER Parent of the Year Award.

Princess had her first dentist visit today and has 7 CAVITIES! She just turned 5 years old. I didn’t have a cavity until I was well into my 20’s…what gives?!? This is my first child. She’s the sheltered one. The one who didn’t even know what chocolate was until well past her second birthday. The one who had whipped cream and blueberries on her first birthday cake because I didn’t want to expose her to the evils of sugar. She hasn’t even begun losing her baby teeth and her molars are rotting away.

I know what you’re thinking…brush the kid’s teeth every once in a while, will ya?! She brushes her teeth every morning and evening (with her Princess toothbrush…the one that spins). She’s even recently gotten into flossing and swishing around a fluoride rinse. She has barely had more than a sip of soda in her entire 5 years and doesn’t really eat many sweets. I’m floored.

I kept meaning to take her to the dentist, but was dreading the drama of the ordeal and she seemed to be doing a good job with her brushing, so I kept putting it off. When we got back from my friend’s wedding a few weekends ago, I noticed a dark spot on one of her molars and decided to make an appointment. We went to a “kid’s dentist” in town and they were fabulous with her. I, however, got the polite smile and look they reserve for the loser moms who can’t be bothered to take care of their children’s teeth.  They told me that I should help her more with brushing...you think?!  Tell that to Miss Independent.

To make matters worse, BamBam, the second child, the one I’ve been much more lax with has been EVIL lately when trying to get him to brush his teeth. He won’t brush them himself, not with a regular baby toothbrush, not with the cool spinning car one either. This is the only topic that doesn’t interest him in “being like sissy”. She’s even tried to teach him. He won’t let me anywhere near his mouth and practically bit me yesterday when I tried to force my way in. Oh, but he’ll let THE Daddy do it. THAT does little good since he is traveling from Mon-Fri for the next 6 weeks. AGHH!

Any intelligent suggestions on how to get a stubborn 2 year old to brush?  I'm pretty creative, but I've used every trick in my book so far.

Even bigger question…any advice on the use of nitrous oxide? Apparently, it’s the drug of choice for dental procedures in kids…and she’s getting all 7 cavities filled in 3-4 visits over the next few months. The dentist brushed it off like, “dude, everyone does it”…but we don’t usually take that path. Case in point: vaccinations. Luckily, initial searches on google aren’t turning up anything too scary.

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