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Subject:
From:
"Mardrey Swenson, LLL Leader" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 30 Nov 1995 10:57:33 -0500
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Nancy Williams & other Lactnetters

Nancy's scary dentist story and her son's wonderful reaction to the stool
sample  - didn't you all chuckle!!

EPOXY PARENTING.  That's a term I'll use in the future.  Freshness of
expression and humor are such great ways to get a point across.  Thank you,
Linda and Nancy.

I first struggled with insisting I stay with my children during dental
appointments 16 years ago.  It is so sad that there are so many Dentists out
there who think that just because a child is too scared to show his/her true
feelings to the dental staff in the room and isn't when mom or dad is present
- that the answer is to banish the parent!  The dental work is easier on a
child who is overwhelmed by the experience and is without an anchor during
this strange encounter.  These dentists just have never discovered there is
another way to live nor how to use parents to their advantage.

It makes me so thankful for our present dentist who, I've heard, may have
been thrown through a window in his youth by a dentist who, when he didn't
pause for the child to get his equilibrium during drilling, got kicked in the
shin by an un-pain-medicated child !! Tthis child, our dentist now that he's
all grown up  always lets the parent in the room and carefully explains what
he is going to do and tells the child to stop him whenever he needs to.  My
nine yr. old actually went happily into the room for his second extraction of
one more baby tooth with a root that hadn't dissolved.  I refer everyone I
can to him.  He's even talked to mothers in towns across the state who've
called me about about dental caries in nursing toddlers.  I can't thank him
enough for his compassion and maturity.

It's too bad when people go into a profession without realizing that people
skills are a critical component of success and dentists who administer pain
day in and day out are all the more in need of taking courses in compassion
and communication.

I suppose the parent could try to educate the dentist by asking him/her to
explain the procedure, let the child tell him if he nees a quick break, etc.
 But I suppose it might for some all come down to economics - how many
patients there are, how much time should be scheduled for a child's office
visit, and darn, who needs these kids that let  know how they really feel
about what you're doing messing up your schedule.

Mardrey
whose teenagers have discovered a little epoxy solvent and sometimes become
their own advocates

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