A Day at the Dentist's
I have been planning to take Xianelle to the dentist for the longest time. As a parent, I guess it’s our responsibility to help our children get acquainted with the dentist. I know a lot of people who neglect their dental health mainly because they’re so scared of going to the dentist. We want to teach Xianelle as early as now how important it is.
Xiane had to miss school last Monday because of eye irritation. We had to make sure that it wasn’t conjunctivitis or in layman’s term “sore eyes”. Luckily it was just an ordinary eye irritation that might have been caused by the dust from the recent sand storms. With some eye drops, voila, the redness was gone!
But since we were already at the clinic, I decided to take Xiane to the dentist. She was sat on the dental chair. Then the very nice lady dentist started talking to her, showing her the tools that they use in the clinic. The dentist checked her teeth and talked to her throughout the whole process. They counted her teeth together, 20 teeth in all! Then she finished by brushing Xiane’s teeth with their special toothpaste. It was so nice to hear the dentist say that Xiane’s teeth are perfect. It was such a relief to find out that she didn’t have any cavities or tooth decay especially when I found out that most of her permanent teeth won’t start coming out until she’s 6 years old (that’s still 2 years from now) and a few until she’s 9! Bringing her to the dentist only emphasized how important it is for her to brush her teeth and have definitely given her the internal motivation to take care of her teeth. At least our patience and constant reminder to brush her teeth have paid off. We allow her to brush her teeth by herself but it has been my rule that either Tian or I has to brush her teeth at least once a day, preferably before she goes to be, in this way we are assured that her teeth are brushed well everyday.
Before we left the clinic, the dentist told me to continue to take care of her teeth. She even asked that we see her again before we leave for our holiday so she could treat Xiane’s teeth with fluoride. I was so happy that I was finally able to take her to the dentist.