First Visit to the Dentist

For some people, visiting the dentist can be quite scary ... especially if you did not have a pleasant experience with them when you were young. Hence, I wanted to make sure that my kids do not go thru life with a fear of the dentists. After all, if you teach them early enough to take care of their teeth, then going to the dentist should not be so unpleasant.

Today, we scheduled my daughter's first visit to the dentist. It was a brand new clinic close to home. When we got there, I filled out a form and Bianca was given a choice between two stuffed toys she could bring inside - she chose a grey poodle named 'Frenchie'. It was a bit of a wait, but she was happy platying with her new friend 'Frenchie'. When she was called in by the dental assistant, she was eager to go and sit on the chair. The lady dentist then explained to her that they will raise and recline the chair, and have her lie down. Since the light can be bright, they got her to wear some shades.

She was asked to open her mouth, and the dentist proceeded to count her teeth: 10 up and 10 down, for a total of 20. I was also told that in the next 12 months to expect all her 4 permanent molars to come out - ouch! They also performed a little cleaning with a tutti-frutti kind of paste, and finished of with a flouride solution that was painted on her teeth to keep them strong.

After this she was asked what it tasted like, but she did not know. "Maybe bubblegum ?", the dental assistant prompted her. "Mommy, what is bubblegum?" was the response she got. I had to explain that she's not much into the sweet-stuff like chocolates, candies, soft-drinks. Thank goodness!

One question I was dying to ask the dentist was "Are we cleaning her teeth well enough?", and to this she said 'yes'. Whew! All that effort to get them to brush their teeth since they were about a year old finally paid off. Must keep it up for the next 20 years, ha!

She was very well-behaved during the whole session that the dentist gave her a special sticker that she proudly stuck on her shirt! At the end of it all, she returned the toy to the receptionist in exchange for some more stickers ,colouring pages and a new toothbrush ... a pink one ofcourse.

For me it was really good to see that they make it a pleasant experience for both child and parent. It was so good that Bianca mentions the dental visit as the 'most fun thing' she did today. So good it was for me that I booked an cleaning appointment for mylself next month! Too bad I could not bring my little boy just yet ... I don't think he will sit still long enough for the dentist to count his teeth, hehehe.