{"id":406,"date":"2010-04-08T18:36:56","date_gmt":"2010-04-09T02:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/?p=406"},"modified":"2010-04-12T09:02:45","modified_gmt":"2010-04-12T17:02:45","slug":"plaque-loving-raisin-eaters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/08\/plaque-loving-raisin-eaters\/","title":{"rendered":"Plaque-Loving Raisin-Eaters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Spinning Out of Control<\/p><\/div>\n

Whenever Josie and I arrive somewhere by car, Josie asks for \u2018one big and one widdle\u2019 raisin to take outside. As soon as I put the car into park, I start digging through the tub of raisins I keep in the console looking for the extremes. When we get down to the bottom of a carton, and I have a bunch of picked-through medium-sized raisins, it can get tricky, but I\u2019m not above flattening\/stretching some and squishing others.<\/p>\n

When we arrive at the dentist\u2019s office for Josie\u2019s first teeth cleaning, we complete our ritual before going inside. The hygienist meets us in the waiting area and reads a picture book about their office and the cleaning and tells her everything they are going to do. They have little games to play with the water thing and the suction. Truly gifted people. It\u2019s all going so well. We\u2019re having such a lovely time.<\/p>\n

Then the hygienist asks what Josie eats for snack. I mention raisins. Raisins?<\/em> The hygienist puts her hand to her chest and practically gasps (she may, in fact, have gasped) and begins a rant about the sugar and the sticky getting lodged in the crevasses of Josie\u2019s teeth. For god sake woman, stop with the raisins.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking: raisins are good for her, raisins are good for her, raisins are good for her… I manage to say something benign and non-committal like: I see your point<\/em>. But this is not enough, she wants a commitment.<\/p>\n

Have I mentioned that I have good teeth? They may not be pretty but they work real well. I don\u2019t have any cavities. One dentist told me I had really effective plaque-reducing saliva, and I\u2019ve grown a little cocky. I have a hard time getting worked up over tooth decay. But Josie doesn\u2019t have my teeth or my super-duper saliva.<\/p>\n

Then the dentist comes out and continues the sermon on the perils of dried fruit. When she\u2019s done she looks to me for a commitment, for a confirmation that I got the message. A very rational voice in my head is saying: just nod and smile, nod and smile. Then: don\u2019t do it. Then: for god sake, woman, keep your mouth shut. But I can\u2019t. I say: Raisins are a good source of iron and fiber and she tends toward constipation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oh god, more about the sticky \u2013the raisin-damning continues. She goes into her office and comes back with a picture of a tooth crevasse and toothbrush bristles skimming over the top to demonstrate the brush cannot get down in there. You see lady? Can\u2019t you see the bristles don\u2019t get down there.<\/em> \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m stubborn and continue to defend the raisin. I understand that they\u2019re not good from a dental-hygiene standpoint but I\u2019m trying to take the whole body, her whole system into account and the raisin really does have a lot to offer as far as transportable snack foods go. They come in cute little boxes or tubs to suit your needs. They can be easily handed into the back seat while driving. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some big. Some widdle.<\/p>\n

Next thing I know she\u2019s talking about raisins and gummy-bears as if they\u2019re the same thing. Fine. Fine! I\u2019ll buy her some goddamn sunflower seeds, but I won\u2019t like it and neither will she.<\/p>\n

Then it comes time for fluoride. The dentist tells me that Josie\u2019s teeth have not calcified properly. They\u2019re sticky (I wonder how many times a day she uses this word) and already starting to decay. Josie really needs fluoride. I wasn\u2019t prepared for this discussion. You\u2019d think I would be, I\u2019m at a dentist after all, but she\u2019s only two and I didn\u2019t think they gave it to kids this young. But, of course, this raisin-hater dentist wants to apply fluoride to Josie\u2019s teeth.<\/p>\n

By then I\u2019m broken-down. I\u2019m beaten. I remember reading that babies and toddlers should use toothpaste without fluoride<\/a> until they can spit it out. I mumble a question about the systemic effects of giving a young child fluoride. They apply it directly to her teeth, but will the amount she incidentally swallows be harmful to her system? The dentist tilts her head and gives me a blank stare. Eventually she responds that too much fluoride can leave brown spots on teeth. Once again, only about the teeth. (I must say that she is a damn good dentist. Perhaps she should be called a tooth-advocate.) At this point I give up and Josie has the fluoride.<\/p>\n

When I get home I look it up, and imagine my surprise, when I don\u2019t find too much hysteria about applying fluoride to teeth. There\u2019s some concern with formula-fed babies getting too much fluoride<\/a>\u00a0for their little bodies in tap water (oops, too late now). And there is some concern about\u00a0over-fluoridated\u00a0water<\/a>,\u00a0but really not much talk of fluoride applied directly to the teeth.<\/p>\n

Maybe that dentist was right. I guess now I\u2019ll have to go buy a mixture of roasted pumpkin (big) and sunflower (widdle) seeds to keep in my car. But I still reserve the right to serve her dried fruit whenever the hell I feel like it, damit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whenever Josie and I arrive somewhere by car, Josie asks for \u2018one big and one widdle\u2019 raisin to take outside. As soon as I put the car into park, I start digging through the tub of raisins I keep in the console looking for the extremes. When we get down to the bottom of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mom","category-hmn-reports","category-popular"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418,"href":"https:\/\/www.katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions\/418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katherinemalmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}