Call her Miss Pearly!

Today, Lena made her first ever visit to the dentist!

I was having a hard time finding a pediatric dentist with good recommendations in my area. Well, someone would recommend someone and I'd call to inquire and have terrible service on the phone. If my first impression over the phone is bad, I don't want to take my child there...sorry! Well finally I got to know a dentist who serves on the board of FBA, Dr. Deanna Barton of Plum Dental. Deanna doesn't work with small kids, but she recommended Dr. Joel Vela.

So I called Dr. Vela's office, Bellaire Pediatric Dentistry. And I was impressed from the start! The first phone call was informative. The follow-up calls were very helpful. Although I didn't know how Lena would be feeling about a visit to the dentist, I was actually looking forward to it.

We walked into the office and "Beauty and the Beast" was playing on the TV. There were quite a few cool toys. The office was bright and clean. My only complaint: we did wait a bit longer than I expected. But once we got in, it was great. His hygienist, Gaylynn, was wonderful with Lena! She had her teeth cleaned and never made one peep. She got to choose a new toothbrush (I was surprised she chose Snow White over Cinderella). Then Dr. Vela came to examine her and he was very happy with her mouth. He said the spacing in her mouth is great and went so far as to predict she won't need braces due to crowding. Of course, the teeth could still grow in crooked, but they should have plenty of room. He said he'd wait until next visit to take xrays but didn't see anything indicating there are any cavities. There was a little bleeding around the gums during the cleaning so they want us to brush better around the gumline. Besides that, it was a non-event! And Lena was so proud of her pearly white teeth, showing them off in the elevator and back at school. So sweet!

Miss Macey goes for her visit on 5/21. I'm not looking forward to that one as much. She does have some discoloration of her teeth around the gums which I am concerned could be decay. But the hygienist said based on my description that it may just be stains. I worry that in her first 2 years she didn't have flouride and probably didn't brush her teeth. I guess we'll see...