Category Archives: Dental

First Dental Visit

@ 40 months, 1 week 1 day

We brought Ryan to his first dentist visit last Saturday. It was an uneventful session. Phew. Prior that day, I had done a few role play sessions with him and showed him pictures found from the clinic’s website. So I’m guessing that helped put him at ease throughout that whole session.

It is a paediatric dentist so the whole place was decorated and pooled with toys and books. Ryan was not shy to make himself at home the moment we stepped in.

 

 

After about 15 minutes’s wait, it was Ryan’s turn. I wasn’t sure abbout Ryan but I swear my heart was pounding fast. We were seated down at a corner of the room and dentist started off with some Q and A. He also asked a few questions directed at Ryan to make him feel apart of the session -  whether he brushes his teeth, what color is his toothbrush, what’s his fav food, so forth. To my delight, the two could actually communicate, quite sensibly too. Hubs and I, even the nurses couldn’t stop smiling at some of Ryan’s answers.

He also showed Ryan a mock up teeth and made him count. 20 is the number. The whole Q&A session yielded one main concern and it’s about Ryan’s die hard habit of going to bed with milk in bottle. The dentist explained to Ryan the consequences of it and encourages him to drink from cup. I couldn’t helped but to chuckle when I saw the expression on Ryan’s face when the dentist showed us a picture of teeth cavity. He was nodding his head looking worried and kept pointing and asking questions (why there’s black thing on the teeth, why got holes…. ) during the whole explanation.

After breaking the ice, it was time for the real ‘show’. Ryan was asked to lie down on hubs and the overhead TV with Thomas and Friends show was turned on. Ryan was given the mouth mirror. For a few minutes, he was tasked to help the dentist with it around the mouth. Ryan was sure proud.

   

After checking, it was found Ryan would need a filling on one tooth (bottom right) and it is highly attributed to the milk intake before bed. Grrrr… Luckily Ryan brushes his teeth at least once a day (night is mandatory, daytime – occassionally depending on his mood and time). I cannot imagine otherwise. He will probably need 20 fillings today. For a child that doesn’t take anything after his last brush, apparently the morning brush is deemed not so important.   

Dentist does not encouraged tooth filling on first visit, so we will schedule another day for that purpose. Soon after, another lady dentist took over the session for scaling and polishing. She was so good and patient. She explained and allowed Ryan to touch and feel some of the tools on his finger before her using them on his teeth. While scaling his teeth, dentist noticed Ryan easily tenses up when she touched his rear gum hence explains why he likes to bite the toothbrush when I brush his molars. She taught and encourages me to do more gum exercise for Ryan by inserting my fingers (thumb and index) to massage the gum.  

 

The whole session took about 45 minutes. It was slightly longer than we expected because there were a lot of interaction throughout the session to make Ryan feel comfortable; mostly on non teeth related topics such as which school he goes to, why he gel his hair (no.. we don’t normally doll him up except on special occassion. That day was because we were going for his classmate’s birthday party), any girlfriends (he raised his hand and showed 5 when he was asked the question), etc.. It was really funny listening to the answers Ryan gave – eg how he elaborated to the dentist about mommy being the one who teaches him at home, daddy is the fixer because daddy fixed the lights, etc and him being the cleaner. My boy… has truly grown up.

   

 

As a reward for his wonderful performance, Ryan could choose a toy from the magix box. He chose a spiderman toy. He was sure beaming from ear to ear. I asked if he enjoyed the session and would like to come again. He said ‘YES’!  Yay….

… we left the place feeling proud and happy. The $132 paid sure hurts the wallet but it’s worth it seeing that bright little smile on Ryan’s face.

 

That night onwards, I try to make Ryan drink his milk from his cup. It was a futile effort. Bedtime, he needs his bottle before he’s willing to hit the sack.  Otherwise tons of excuses that he couldn’t sleep, this and that.  So what I did, after his last milk, I made him drink some water to at least rinse off the residue. Hopefully that helps extend the life of his baby teeth.