well today we're taking ian to the dentist for the first time. hes 3 1/2 and a terror to try and brush his teeth, so we decided it was time to take him. he's really shy and has been known to bite when he gets really scared. im soo nervous! i feel bad for ian because everytime we even metion the word dentist he freaks out. i would feel soo bad if he bit dr. olson. but me and his dad are both going. . . so i dunno?!? i don't know if it will help or not.
well wish me good luck with the terror. . . oh why couldn't aidan be the one going? hes the calm one! no just kidding. . . sorta. :roll:
does anyone else have dentist horror stories? well ill let y'all know how it goes

We have a pediatrict dentist (who's totally covered by low income dental plan) that makes visits really fun for kids. I don't know if you have something like that out there, but my kids all cry when it's time to leave because the dentist is so much "fun".
And at that age, if he's not co-operative, the dentist probably won't do too much. I know the first time we brought K at 2, they checked his teeth visually and didn't bother cleaning or brushing because he didn't want to open his mouth.

Make it fun. T never used to like brushing his teeth much, but it was easy to make it a silly time and now he likes it. Let him pick out a fun toothbrush, one that he likes, that really helps, and make it silly when you're brushing. Like when I brush Trey's teeth, if he says no I tell him to let me smell his breath, and he'll breathe out and I'll pretend to fall back gagging from the smell, it usually takes him off the defensive and makes him giggle. Then I pretend he has huge chunks of food stuck in his teeth, I'll say ".. hey I see some apple in here, did you eat an apple? and right there is some salad! and back there is a .. BOOGER!" (yes I'm really mature, I know, but it makes him giggle). Then when he's done I tell him to let me smell again and this time I'll say "oh my god it smells so CLEAN I could just eat it all up" then I pretend like I'm going after his mouth with chomping sounds and he squirms away.
A fear of dentists and doctors is harder to deal with, but something even like telling them "doctors make you feel all better" and getting a little stethoscope set for home makes it a lot easier. With a dentist maybe pretend you're both dentists and look in each others mouths so he's prepared. And tell him that dentists give you a toy at the end if you're good, cause most do.

ok so heres the update. he totally freaked just like i thought he would. they called us back and he started crying and saying he didn't want to get shots! no matter how much we assured him that he wasn't getting shots he wouldn't believe us. well then our dentist came in (hes just a general dentist but hes really good with kids) and asked to see his teeth. he would let him so he asked ian to pretend that he was a tiger and roar. so he did. ian has one small teeny tiny cavity in the back that he said not to worry about. so everything went alright once we got back into the waiting room to wait for my husband who was getting crowns on. then like 10 mins later ian decided that he wanted his teeth brushed like "daddy was getting" luckly the nurse was really nice and let him go back to get it done. we had to tell him that the chair was only for big boys and mommy's couldn't even sit in it. that made him pretty happy. he kept showing his teeth off for everyone! it was so cute.
as for getting him to brush his teeth we tell him that sugar bugs are on them. it works perfect most of the time. he brushes his teeth on his own then i tell him i saw a "bug" he missed and he lets me brush them really good! so it went alright i guess

Alexis didn't mind going to the dentist at all.

I'm a dental assistant, so this is probably not a typical case with kids, but whatever.
When I took my son to the dentist the first time, I had taken him with me the week before when I got my teeth cleaned, so he knew what to expect. I also took him to a pedodontist (kids dentist) who I knew and I knew that he only would do as much as the child would let him. But he did fine, got them cleaned and checked, picked out his toothbrush, got his goody bag, and that was it. I think the key was having him prepared, and not even mentioning the possibility of pain. Just tell them that they're going to brush their teeth with a special toothbrush, and look at them, and maybe take pictures.

I took my daughter for the first time when she was around 3 1/2. We read a book "Creature goes to the Dentist" or something like that to get her all prepared. My biggest problem? She would NOT sit still!!! She was just bouncing off the walls which she tends to do in a new environment, so I don't know how the dentist was able to even look in there. It's been a year since she was there, so I know I need to take her back....but oh I'm dreading it!

Lyric went when she turned 3. BD & I both had appointments that same day, so that did help a bit. She got to watch us before she went into it and they didn't do anything too horrible - just a cleaning and a quick check-up. Her 5 year old dentist check up was xrays, which she kept gagging from, but didn't cry!