A polished smile

Once he confirmed that they weren't going to put drops in his eyes and weren't going to use the "whir-whir" thing like on Nemo, AJ did a great job during his first visit to the dentist.

As he reported back to Daddy afterward, "I was a brave, brave guy."

He sat pretty well for the hygienist as she counted his teeth and polished them, which we convinced him would only tickle. By the time the dentist came in, it was clear AJ's attention span was waning.

"She kind of made me choke," he told me later.

So what did we learn? AJ has 20 teeth, with slight tartar, which they cleaned off. He also has a slight "open bite".

I asked if this was an indication of how his permanent teeth would grow in. The dentist gave a longer than necessary explanation, which I concluded could be abbreviated as "pretty much." So I asked, "In other words, we should start saving for braces now?"

Her response this time was more succinct. "Probably."