This post is sponsored by Panhandle Pediatric Dentistry. As always, all opinions are my own.
I think everybody probably has a horror story from a childhood trip to the dentist. I know I do! As a kid, I was always terrified about dentist appointments and because my teeth looked like a jigsaw puzzle, there were a lot of them. I’m still not thrilled about going to the dentist, but at least I stay in my seat like a grown up. With my son, I knew we would have to tackle the same fear and I was NOT looking forward to it. Hayden has a rare genetic disorder Lowe Syndrome and any kind of doctor appointment can be really difficult, but one where he has to keep his mouth open??? Forget about it. I had no idea what we were going to do.
I asked around for dentist recommendations, and the overwhelming response was Panhandle Pediatric Dentistry.
From the very first phone call, the team at Panhandle Pediatric made sure we had everything we needed. I explained my son’s disorder and our concerns, so she set up an appointment with the dentist that has the most experience with special needs patients. She also went above and beyond by writing down his diagnosis in his chart so Dr. Robbie could research it before the appointment. I felt so much better when I knew that they were taking extra care to ensure that Hayden’s (and our) first dentist appointment would go as smoothly as possible.
The day of our appointment arrived and we were ready! We had watched lots of cartoons about going to the dentist and read every dentist book we had. We talked a lot about why we were going to see Dr. Robbie and explained what would happen. With Hayden, it’s really important for us to prepare him as much as possible for what’s coming. He is very fearful of new things or environments, and it’s very difficult for him to calm down once he gets worked up and anxious. Most of their appointments are in a main treatment area, but thankfully, they put is in a room all to ourselves.
Dr. Robbie was great! He was very patient and explained everything to Hayden. He let Hayden look at his tools and was so patient with him.
Hayden still wasn’t having it, so he sat in my husband’s lap and laid his head back while Dr. Robbie examined him. Since it was our very first appointment, he kept it quick and simple. There was still lots of screaming, but we never felt like anyone was frustrated with him. As Dr. Robbie said “the screaming actually helps me see in his mouth better.” #silverlining
When he finished, everyone was so sweet to Hayden and told him how brave and awesome he was. That’s the best thing you can tell my kid, and he was beaming when we left the office. Hayden talked about how brave he was at the dentist for days afterwards. I can’t speak highly enough of our experience with Panhandle Pediatric Dentistry.
It can be difficult finding pediatric specialists that work with special needs kids who are equally patient with both parent and child, and they definitely exceeded our expectations.
Want more information on Panhandle Pediatric Dentistry? Check out their website.
