The tooth fairy, however, is lovely and gracious

After all my bitching and whining and negative reviews, it's time to blow sunshine in the ear of Tallulah's new dentist.

I started to worry after Tallulah's medical experience where she was identified as colorblind, blood pressure challenged, and buck-toothed. We got rid of the binky, but a gnawing doubt rolled around in the back of my brain. Have we allowed her palate to be permanently damaged by the binky? Was my binky laziness going to be paid for in years of orthidontistry? Is orthidontistry even a word? I guess I'll find out when Tallulah gets fitted for her first in a series of multiple sets of braces. I made an appointment with a dentist I'd met at the Holistic Moms Network, Dr. Glori Enzor.

Let me preface this by saying, Tallulah has been to a dentist before. I took her to Dr. Ronk, a pediatric dentist in Sarasota when she was two. His office was good at easing Tallulah into the cleaning-- they showed her what they were going to do and did a thorough job. But then they told me she needed to stop nursing and showed me multiple pictures of children's mouths with rotting teeth. See this? they said. And this? Which pissed me off because, hello? I'm taking her to the dentist at TWO YEARS OF AGE! She didn't have any tooth damage and we brush teeth daily. Is it necessary to try to shame me for nursing my toddler by showing multiple pictures of rotted teeth? So we didn't go back and, pissed off as I was, I neglected to take Tallulah back to the dentist until now, when apparently I've ruined her teeth with the binky, not the titty.

[sidenote: I received a lot of pressure to wean Tallulah during the year between two and three. It came from surprising areas like the dentist and always there was this underlying idea, stated or unstated, that Tallulah would never wean on her own unless I did something drastic like coat my nipples in jalapeno peppers. Then, shortly after she turned three, Tallulah decided she was done and never tried to latch on again. It was a good lesson for me in natural child progression: when a child is ready to move onto another developmental stage, they will. Pushing before they're ready is painful and exhausting and leads to excessive swearing and alcohol consumption. Of course, parenting itself leads to excessive swearing and alcohol consumption...]

So we went to see Dr. Glori Enzor. I like Glori. She's plain spoken and easy to talk to, has three or four children including a set of twins, and when she spoke to the HMN group, she told us she encourages her patients to bring their children to their dental cleanings to get children accustomed to going to the dentist. Her office is set up with a playroom in the back-- the same playroom her twins used when they were babies and she kept them and a nanny in the office so she could parent, play, and nurse in between patients. Talk about my kind of worldview! When we got to the appointment, the receptionist directed us back there immediately and Moxie and Tallulah played while I filled out paperwork. When the hygienist came to get us for the cleaning, she chatted up Tallulah for a minute obviously gauging T's mindset. She quickly ascertained T's comfort with all things new and exciting, and soon they were chatting about their mutual favorite color; purple.

The hygienist did everything right: she showed T. the instruments quickly and efficiently without giving T. room to worry, but familiarizing her with the instruments. She asked Tallulah to demonstrate brushing teeth and flossing and encouraged her to let Mommy and Daddy help with the back teeth. She even gave her sunglasses to wear so the overhead light wouldn't hurt her eyes. Then Dr, Enzor came in and chatted up Tallulah while she examined her teeth. Then she sent T. out with the hygienist while she talked to me about Tallulah. Everything looks good, she said. She wasn't worried about her overbite or the long binky use. She said Tallulah's spacing was good and the overbite would probably resolve itself before the permanent teeth came in and, anyway, she wouldn't worry about it until then.

I would like to insert here that although it sounds, and my mother would say, that I only like doctors and and dentists when they agree with me or tell me my children are perfect, I would disagree. I don't actually have any proof that it's not true, but I'm positive I'm not that egocentric.

Then I asked when she likes to see kids start to see her because I was thinking about Moxie and her new bottom teeth coming in, and she told me to just bring her when I bring Tallulah for cleanings and if I start to see her as my dentist, she'd do cleanings with Moxie on my lap or in the sling (what do you think about that, Du-ude Hairstylist Brian? Your baby phobia seems a little ridiculous now doesn't it?) and at some point, probably when Moxie was around two, she would ask for her turn in the chair and Wa La! Moxie's first dental appointment.

What I love about finding the perfect dentist is how easy she makes it. Like finding the perfect couch for your living room. You sit down and it just feels like home.