First trip to the dentist!

Long overdue post... Gabrielle visited the dentist for the first time a few weeks ago. Actually I had been mulling for a long time over which dentist to bring her to, especially since this would be her first visit and hence, would leave a lasting impression of future visits!

After asking a few mommy friends which dentist they brought their little ones to, Mum decided on Dr Elizabeth Tan at Mount Elizabeth Hospital. This was not one of the recommended ones from my own friends, but rather a recommendation from Mum's friends. Mum is very much involved with Gabrielle's development and I'm happy to tap on her wisdom most of the time, seeing how she's got lots of experience with babies!

So how did we prep Gabrielle for this life-changing experience? I must say that there are at least two good children's books on dentist visits, which will help to prime kids on what could potentially be a traumatic time for them (after all, who likes strangers poking into and looking around their mouths??). The one which I've been reading to Gabrielle for a while was "Barney goes to the dentist"; in fact, to our surprise, Dr Tan had that book in her clinic too! The other book is "A visit to the dentist (Dora the Explorer).

Unfortunately, all that prepwork did not seem to yield positive results. As with other pedodontists, Dr Tan's clinic is decorated with child-friendly paraphernalia - butterflies on the ceiling, children's books, and a toy-box in the waiting area. Gabrielle was pretty chirpy when we first stepped in, and was walking around the place asking lots of questions. However, the minute we stepped foot into the treatment room, she suddenly clammed up, it's like she knew that something was amiss. Dr Tan, or "Aunty Elizabeth" as she introduced herself, spent a long time breaking the ice with her, showing her the familiar Barney book, and letting her ride up and down in that special dentist's chair. By the way, the only way we could get Gabe to sit on the chair was for me to sit with her. I was carrying Theodore in a sling at the time, so I had to relinquish him to Mum while I carried Gabe on my lap and sat in the chair. We rode up and down a couple of times (actually I think it was 5 or 6 times!), as Aunty Elizabeth tried to put her little patient at ease.

The final straw came when Dr Tan tried to get her to open her mouth so that she could take a look. Gabe had had enough - she started bawling! As I held her, I could also feel her trembling, poor kid! All of us tried to pacify her, but to no avail; in fact, it seemed that she started screaming even louder. So Dr Tan suggested that I hold on to her legs while she held on to the upper part of her body, so that she could at least count the teeth. Let's just say it was like a torture session for Gabrielle, she held her mouth tightly shut even as she was bawling and sputtering. Somehow, in between breaths, Dr Tan managed to gently pry open her mouth and count how many teeth were in there, 16 in all. After she released her, Gabe calmed down a little and was just sniffling. The dental assistant gave her a blown up latex handglove with a happy face- I thought that was a nice touch - and of course, a couple of stickers. Gabe managed a 'Thank you' through her tears. Sweet kid.

Well, after all that, I'm glad to report that Dr Tan complimented her on a good set of teeth, and praised her for having established a twice-daily ritual of brushing teeth, and not having the habit of drinking a bottle to sleep. She also reminded us not to introduce sweets to her yet, so that she doesn't get a craving for sweet stuff. No problem with that; Gabe actually seems to prefer sour things and has more adult tastes - she likes lemon juice, and just yesterday, she ate at least half of a Japanese cucumber by itself! Oh yes, there was one bad thing though: her thumb-sucking. Her thumb bears the tell-tale signs of the chronic habit, and the doctor noted that she already was having signs of losing her bite. It'll be a tough job to wean her off that... hopefully by 5 years old, she would have outgrown it!

And that was that. After coming out of the treatment room, Gabe was more or less back to her usual exuberant self, and discovered the treasures in the toy box in the waiting area as she picked up a dinosaur. A happy ending to a somewhat terrifying experience for a two-year old! For other mommies who are planning that first visit, I guess two years old is a good time to start. Some parenting experts suggest 1 1/2 years old, but I can't imagine how a kid that young would take it! Whatever it is, it's good to bring the child before problems start - Mum's advice, and after this experience, I agree. And, most important is the daily dental care at home before that - I'm really glad we started the teeth brushing early on, so that Gabe acquires this good habit right from year 1. And also definitely glad that Joerg and I are against sweets at this age, if ever!

Gabe's next visit to 'Aunty Elizabeth' is when she's 3 years old... one whole year to prep her again, haha!