SMILE

Brought Nat and Matt to the dentist yesterday as we've been wanting to have their milk teeth checked. We noticed Nat has a huge cavity in her molar tooth and were pretty concerned. Didn't even realized it till MIL told us.

As for Matt, his 'stained' teeth has always been bothering us. Whenever he smile, we can't help but noticed the bottom row of 'black' teeth. So, I finally found a dental that does consultation for children and made an appointment. Didn't want to delay it too long in case the children teeth get worse and I definitely don't want them to go through any kind of extractions! It's traumatizing enough having your tooth being pulled out. And it's another seeing the huge amount of blood dripping out from your gum!

I hated visiting the dentist myself as I do not have a healthy set of teeth. I remember the horror of being called up to the school dentist when I was in Primary Sch.. it was like a death sentence being passed whenever the nurse comes up and call up the student's name. It was supposed to be a routine check-up but still, it was pretty unnerving whenever it came to my turn.

So I've always tried to avoid visiting one myself after leaving school.. which to my dismay, worsened the experience as the teeth gets cleaned only once every few years. SO you can imagine the amount of plaques and bacteria that's formed!

Anyway, back to the kids.. yes, they were... surprisingly.. Very well behaved at the dentist! Matthias went in first and the dentist spent half an hour polishing and scaling his teeth. Though it was his first experience, he was surprisingly calm about it. I carried him on the chair and held him as the dentist cleaned his mouth.. I guess it also helped that she talked to him about it first and let him feel and touch the machine before putting it in his mouth. She also kept talking to him during the entire process, letting him know what to expect next.

Nat had similar experience.. and she was in fact waiting eagerly to go inside the room (she was doing some coloring outside). But to our horror, the dentist discovered 10 cavities in her teeth! And 1 or 2 of them are pretty huge and require fillings! Gosh.. didn't realise that Nat's teeth were so bad. They looked fine from exterior but they are actually not.

Understand from the dentist that it could be due to a combination of accumulated bacteria, frequent snacking, and irregular brushing. We have to really help her brush her teeth now and ensure she do not snack on too much sweets and biscuits which are bad for her teeth. Even if she eat them, she has to rinse or brush her teeth everytime. And before she sleeps at nite, we must ensure her teeth are bruched. Another important point to note is to stop her from drinking milk from the bottle. It's also another way that speeds up the formulation of bacteria in the mouth as compared to drinking from the cup.

Guess these are basic habits which are important to the kids and we have to instill in them the need to keep their teeth clean and healthy, just like why they must bathe and wash their hands clean.