For me, oral hygiene is extremely important, I love to see beautiful white teeth. I’m always drawn to a person’s smile so I make sure that my Beans have begun their dental hygiene route the right way.
My Mum always took me for regular check-ups at my Dentist in Mississauga and I’m pleased to say that I only have one filling at the age of 40 so we haven’t done too bad at all, especially bearing in mind I have a pretty sweet tooth.
My Beans have always come along to all of my Dentist appointments with me so they have slowly built up a relationship with my Dentist and are not scared to go when it’s their turn (although it can be a little suffocating at times to not just have the dentist and hygienist looking into my mouth to have one child stood either side and another one sitting on my chest!!!
Little Bean
On Monday the Beans had their 6-month check-up and I’m pleased to say it went without a hitch and they all received a good bill of health, he commented on what beautiful white teeth they all have so they were obviously very good at cleaning them.
Little Bean offered to jump into the chair first and chatted happily to the Dentist about her holidays so far and told him herself that she was a little worried her new tooth hadn’t grown through, even though her baby tooth fell out at the start of the Summer. He said that she shouldn’t worry at all, it would come through in its own time and that he wasn’t concerned.
I had my own worries as two of her bottom front teeth have come through a little crooked but he reassured me that as baby teeth fall out and new ones grow through, they will all move and settle. We won’t need to worry about how straight they are for another few years yet.
The part that Little Bean isn’t so keen on is the Fluoride paste that he pops onto her teeth at the end of the examination to protect the enamel and give them glowing white teeth. The first time she had it, it was the cherry flavour and she loved it, the second time it was mint and she hated it.
You can’t eat or drink for an hour after it has been applied and it felt like the longest hour of my life waiting for her teeth to dry whilst she moaned about how bad it tasted. It’s like a dental game of Russian Roulette. This time she braced herself for it being horrible, initially stated it was “disgusting” and then when he said it was melon, she decided “ooh it’s quite nice actually”.
Beanie Boy
Next in the chair, it was Beanie Boy who also received a clean bill of health with no cavities or issues. After spending a week sleeping on an airbed with him while camping I hadn’t realised how bad his teeth grinding was in his sleep but the dentist has assured me that he will eventually grow out of this and that his teeth hadn’t suffered badly because of it. As with all of Beanie Boy’s teeth, he had sneaked in two new molars without us noticing, that boy never did complain during teething. Beanie Boy was NOT a fan of the fluoride paste on his teeth and was insistent that he wouldn’t close his mouth afterwards so was dribbling like a dog on a hot day for the next hour!
Jelly Bean
This was only Jelly Bean’s second time in the Dentist chair and funnily enough, his favourite bedtime story just recently had been Peppa Pig’s trip to the Dentist. He was happy enough to get into the chair but he told the Dentist in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t allowed to lay the chair back and our lovely Dentist complied with his wishes and examined him upright.
I commented that all of the Beans are great at brushing their teeth but I had noticed that Jelly Bean sometimes gets small grey lines on his cute little white teeth which he said could be hairline cracks in the enamel caused by teeth grinding so I’m really hoping he grows out of it by the time his adult teeth come through because he has a beautiful smile.
When the time came to apply Jelly Bean’s fluoride paste he decided that it wasn’t for him, I think seeing Beanie Boy dribbling all over the place put him off that one but we shall try again in 6 months at this next check-up.
We left the dentist with a fond farewell, big shiny stickers to say how brave they were and the promise of a treat for behaving so well. Do you take your children to the dentist regularly?
Fortunately ours are still at the age where they love the dentist and have no qualms. We’ve had more than a few emergency visits as one of the boys seems to have a tendency of creating wobbly teeth through accidents and not natural cause! Our daughter is also (somewhat naively) excited to know she’ll have to have braces in a few years time as she has an underbite.
There’s no quashing their enthusiasm which has to be a good thing!
Ouchee I hate accidents that involve teeth, just so painful. My daughter has been asking me about braces recently as she her teeth are a little crooked at the moment. Definitely don’t try to quash their enthusiasm, I welcome it 🙂