My kids love going to the dentist. I know, it sounds crazy, but we even play dentist at home! So, when Orem PediatricDentistry asked us to come give our opinion, we jumped right on it.
Setting up an appointment was super simple. We
called in, but there is an online option as well! There were plenty of times to
choose from and all that was needed was name and age to schedule. When we
arrived at the dentist we filled out all of the paperwork (clipboard style) as
we waited in the waiting room. Because of the pandemic, there were no toys to
play with but the boys still loved looking at the fish and playing in the
little castle nook. The artwork in this building is amazing. There are
beautiful murals on every wall. More than once I found myself staring at the paintings
rather than taking pictures.
We were given a brief tour of the building before settling into the office. There, they asked some questions about our previous care, our desired care, and our family in general. The very first question they asked was, “Do you want to have a detailed report of everything or just the main points?” I really appreciate that question because it helped tailor the conversations throughout the appointment. (They need to have the same question at car shops. lol.)
After our mini consultation, we headed to the x-ray area. There are two different x-ray machines. The first one is a 360 degree standing one. It looked super cool, but unfortunately my kids were too small for it so we had to use the second option which was more standard. The kids sat in a chair and had to hold giant hard pieces in their mouths. As I said before, my kids love the dentist so it wasn’t an issue for them, but they had multiple comfort items and incentives there in case a child was not as thrilled with the giant pieces of machinery.
With the younger boys, they opted to skip a formal cleaning and just brushed with fancy toothpaste at a little sink. Then, they got up on the exam chair for the quick examination by Dr. Howell. He shared a few ideas with me about my kids' treatment and addressed some concerns I had. Polliwog seems to have an underbite and I had talked to our other dentist about it, but Dr. Howell gave me a little more insight and a couple of things I can do now that might help in the future. He told me that his main priority is prevention and that shows in his long term patients. In the end, the boys were cavity free and we got a little coin for the prize machine.
While we were there, there was no one waiting in the waiting room, but there was another large family getting cleanings done. The youngest of their kids was pretty upset. In the small building their cries echoed a lot. I was worried my kids would become upset by this, but they didn’t seem too bothered. There is a separate back area for non-routine exams, I think taking that child back there might have been a better option.
Some things I loved about this dentistry:
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Free snacks in the waiting room
●
Beautiful paintings and cool
things on the ceiling for the kids to look at
●
Always called kids by name and
complimented them multiple times
●
Each exam chair was in its own
space but with openings throughout. You felt private, but a parent could also
have multiple children being cleaned at once and could keep an eye on all of
them at the same time
● Genuinely cared about feelings of parents and children
The one thing I didn’t love was the narrow hallways. I would not recommend bringing a stroller in here. It was really hard to find places to keep it that weren’t in the way.
