Show me that smile

God bless Beth, our dental hygienist. We are kind of scary at the grocery store; we're really scary in a restaurant; but, we're over-the-top scary as all six of us descend upon the dentist's office.

There are so many possibilities for meltdowns, and you can't really ask the hygienist to "hold on a minute" so you can smooth over a tantrum. Much less, imagine your odds should the need arise to convince a three-year-old to open her mouth for the twirling tooth polisher should she not want a cleaning.

All the dental issues aside, you then have the abundant opportunities of the dynamic duo running amok during a two-hour office stay. Ahh, the frightening outcomes.

However, our semi annual visit came off better than one could wildly wish for (I'm still not fully believing it). Alena agreeably climbed into the chair first, pleasantly obliging Beth's every request to open wide, select a toothpaste flavor and sit patiently while each of her 20 teeth were cleaned and flossed. We even learned which baby tooth will be the first to come out, as it already has the slightest wiggle to it.

Nearly halfway through Alena's cleaning, Alivia asked why Alena was getting such a long turn, anxious to get her rear in the chair. Before Alena's behind imprint vanished from the chair, Alivia had hers in its place. She sat through her own teeth count, cleaning and flossing, which was lengthier than Alena's, as Beth had, by that time, acquired an apprentice who asked endless questions and would have taken over the whole procedure herself, given the opportunity.

As the preschool teeth cleaning was going down, Trace succumbed to nap time sleep on dad's chest in a nearby room during Jason's cleaning, and Alysse, while not quite sure what was going on, read our popular "Llama Llama" books alternating glances between the books' illustrations and Alena and Alivia's teeth cleaning procedures.

In two hours we were all headed home smiling, cavity free, and loaded down with new toothbrushes, Disney princess temporary tattoos and an appointment card for four October appointments. Longer lasting than their tattoos, though, will be the positive experience they had going to the dentist and the great fun they had with Beth.