Going to the Dentist and Fun with Bubble Containers

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I blogged! Get ready for my odd soapbox...we just had a good time last night on our family outing to the dentist:)

...well, not the normal dentist....

We go to the University of Southern Indiana Dental Clinic. We don't have dental insurance so instead we take the kids to the university and let dental hygiene students practice on them-haha-I'm laughing to myself because it sounds like something dangerous but it's so great. The students really know what they are doing b/c they've already been trained and are doing 'clinicals'. They spend 2 1/2 hours (I know this sounds ridiculous but wait till you hear the price) in the chair and the students do the most complete examan I've ever seen. And the kids get all that time one on one with a college aged person who just showers them with attention. They EAT IT UP! Check this out: (I'm way too excited so bear with me)

Price of a dental exam and cleaning at the pediatric dentist: $80 per kid
Price of X-Rays at the pediatric dentist: $25
Cost of a Fluoride treatment at pediatric dentist: $15

Price of a dental exam and cleaning at the university: $5 per kid
Price of X-Rays at the pediatric dentist: $15
Cost of a Fluoride treatment at pediatric dentist: included in the $5 fee

Luke is so young that they did his x-rays for free and the other 2 didn't need it.
So, instead of $310 we would have paid at the pediatric dentist, we paid $15 and each kid left there with at least $5 worth of prizes and teeth care supplies. Now you tell me how worth it that is to drive 30 minutes from home and read magazines for 2 1/2 hours while your kids get showered with attention.
And we left there with 5 travel toothpastes, new toothbrushes for all three kids, floss for all three, stickers, posters, and free little dental tools for flossing(with refills)...

and their teeth get 10 times cleaner b/c they're in the chair for so long! Plus, a real dentist does the final exam.

If you consider that we paid $15 but left with 3 kids with clean teeth and $20 worth of stuff, it's like they paid us to clean our kids' teeth.

Luke's hygienist was especially smitten with him and we took his picture...how funny is this? It was taken with her camera and she emailed it to me-haha-he was having way too much fun with the air sucky thing. he probably did it 20 times and she'd just laugh at him...Oh, the things that entertain you when you have kids...

Speaking of entertainment...listen to what the boys did to entertain themselves a few weeks ago...One day I saw a 2 gallon bubble container they were messing with and didn't recognize it so I picked it up and looked inside. The contents were odd looking so I took a big wiff...urine. I looked at them with those eyes that moms give their sons when they do something like this and they admitted to peeing in the empty bubble container. Then I notice it's filled with tools. Yes, they'd peed in there and dropped their good tools in it. I told them to dump it out. They dump it in the middle of the yard, clean up their tools and we don't think much else of it..until the next day when Daryn comes home from work and says, "Honey, why is the grass dead right there?" Of course, it's where his sons emptied the bubble container. (sigh)...that's my life-haha... :) And I love it...