The Dentist Diaries

Today we had the distinct pleasure of taking both kids to the dentist. This was Charley's third visit, but it was Zander's first visit, so we decided that it might be prudent for BOTH of us to attend the appointment. Charley actually really enjoys going to the dentist, either because they have cool toys in the waiting room and T.V.'s attached to the exam chairs, or because she's never had anything traumatic (like a filling) done . . . but either way, she likes it, so she was no problem. She sat in her chair nicely, followed the kind dentist's instructions, and left with a nice sparkly smile. He said her teeth look great (despite the one tooth that got bumped a few weeks ago and hence turned a sort of grayish color, but which will eventually fall out) and to keep up the good work.

Zander, well, not the same story. Zander was not impressed with the waiting room toys enough to want to stay, he hated the exam chair (so I had to sit with him), and he hated the dentist looking in his mouth even more. We had to lay him in my lap, face up, with his head on my knees, arms pinned down, just so the dentist could get a peek in his screaming mouth. It was awesome. Fortunately, the dentist that we go to is a pediatric dentist, so he is totally used to this type of reaction and said that he generally doesn't start cleaning their teeth until age three, when they can understand more of what's going on. Anyway, he got enough of a look in Zander's mouth to determine that Zander will most definitely need braces down the road. He said that Zander's teeth are already crowded and he doesn't even have all his molars yet. I guess I wrongly assumed that what your baby teeth look like didn't necessarily apply to how your permanent ones will turn out, but I guess I was wrong.

So, this whole trip to the dentist got me thinking about genetics and how interesting they are. I have always had perfectly straight and perfectly spaced teeth, hence never needing braces, and I've never had any major dental issues. Brian, on the other hand, not only had braces/head gear/retainers for many years (he's probably going to kill me for publishing that information), but he had to get caps on both his front teeth, and he told me today that he even had to get ten teeth extracted from his mouth (six regular teeth and four wisdom) to make some room, and his teeth are still crowded. So here comes Charley, who seemingly favors Brian in nearly ever way (looks, body type, hair texture, even her fingers and weird pinkie toenails), aside from her blue eyes and her attitude, which clearly come from my gene pool. Then Zander is next, who clearly favors me in the looks department, even down to his pinkie toes, more or less favoring Brian mainly in the personality department (thank God). Yet somehow, in all that mix, Charley got my perfectly spaced teeth, and Zander got Brian's crowded ones. Hmmm, interesting.

Now if we could only explain their very blonde hair . . . .