Dental drama

Last week I took the kids to the dentist, and I thought I would be able to find an old post around here somewhere that I could reference rather than just typing the whole story out again. Because the trip went pretty much the exact same as it did last year: Liam cooperated beautifully, and Mallory was a nightmare. She refused to open her mouth. She cried and cried. We begged, threatened, bribed, and cajoled her. I left the room, and I came back in. When all was said and done, all we had to show for a half hour of the hygienist's time was a visual inspection of her front teeth (they're crowded, no surprise; she's going to need some work), a small amount of tartar removed from one front tooth, and that's it.

Mallory knows that I was none too pleased. She did not get to pick a prize out of the prize jar the dentist keeps on hand, and she went to her room when we got home. I get that at age 3/4/5 she could have been scared, but this is getting ridiculous now. It's not like she's had something traumatic happen when at the dentist's office before - she is just being a brat in this case. Am I wrong? Should we be cutting her some slack or dropping the hammer? I told the hygienist that I would crawl over the chair and pry her jaws open with my own two hands if she thought that would work, and she didn't take me up on the offer. Maybe she thought I was kidding - but I wasn't!