Dentistry

For the past two years I have gotten very conflicting information about children and scheduling trips to the dentist. Long story short, my son went to the dentist yesterday for the first time, whether we waited too long or not I have no earthly idea. At first I didn't want to go to a Pediatric Dentist because I didn't want one more medical number, but finally I decided he needed a check up, so I went with a Pedodontic. I was expecting it would take months to get in, so I figured if I scheduled now we would make it before the third birthday. Surprisingly, they offered me an appointment for the next day. I talked to him about going to the dentist after I got off the phone. Then we talked about it on the way. I told him everything that would happen, comparing it to a normal doctor so he could relate. (Very similar in my opinion, a nurse/hygienist comes out, does all the work, the doctor/dentist comes and checks.) He was absolutely awesome the whole time. He got a sticker before they started, then he sat there perfectly still while the hygentist cleaned, opened when he was suppose to, closed when he was suppose to. Our hygentist was very kid friendly so it was probably for the best to go to a pedodontic practice, I've had some very sterile (no pun intended, as in lacking in stimulating emotional or intellectual quality) hygienists before. He was cavity free, so that made me happy. Since I have only one child I still take things personal, I was afraid they were going to say his teeth look terrible, and I was going to blame myself because I am the one that brushes his teeth. He was great with the dentist too. The dentist was impressed he was so calm. Partly I'm sure its his personality, and partly I think it had to do with the fact that my husband and I told my son how lucky he was to go to the dentist. Both of us like getting our teeth clean (not really the actual process, the aftereffect) so we sincerely told our son that it was so neat he was going to the dentist. After it was all over he got to pick out a toy. This office didn't have a DVDs in the ceiling, or xboxes, but I have no complains at all in their manner of dealing with kids. As I write this I realized I forgot to tell them, he sucks his thumb, oh well, they said his teeth look great, keep doing whatever you are doing to clean them. We are terrible at flossing, my son has huge gaps (which is good for children, because it gives room for the adult teeth) so I think whats the point of flossing 4 teeth, since none the rest need it. The hygienist said, yeah the front would benefit from flossing, but I get lazy about flossing my son's teeth too. I didn't tell the hygienist this, but I'll tell the internet, I'm also not too good about brushing twice a day, we always brush at night if we are at home, but in the mornings if my son doesn't want to brush then I don't force him, I don't want to make teeth brushing a power struggle because as of right now he is fine with brushing them at night. (I also don't force him to fold his arms, or pray with me if he doesn't want to. I never know if I'm making the right choice, I don't want to make prayers a power struggle and for the most part he is great about cooperation, sometimes he just feels the need to exercise his agency, so I ignore that he is being irreverent and pray myself so he can hear.)