Mum's Diary: The Dentist

Transiting to Primary One is a big deal for kids. It's the beginning of formal education in Singapore and for many of the kids, it's their first encounter with serious and intensive studying. Apart from the kid feeling the stress and heat, the parents usually get stressed up and nervous as well, especially if it's the first time for them. I started this series to document the chronological order of events, my intimate thoughts and emotions on this journey, and it will continue until Joey settles down in Primary One. Hopefully, as we go along, the posts would become more and more positive and encouraging. I do believe in that. :)

Thursday
14 February 2013
11.51pm

I have faint memories of the dentist in my Primary School.

It was a room somewhere along the corridor and you probably would miss it if you weren’t paying much attention. I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that, although most people dread going to the dentist, I kind of looked forward to it. Every time a student walked in with a dentist card in hand, I’d go fingers crossed that my name was on that card. At that time, I thought a visit to the dentist was a fresh breath of air to break the monotony of a typical day in class.

Interestingly, of all the friends I've talked to, everyone had horrific memories of dental visits in school. Nobody liked to be called up for check-ups, apparently. It seemed that we all have a mental image of a man dressed in white coat with a white mask over his face, resembling that of a psychopath, with a drill in hand and a weird twitching at the corner of his mouth. I can imagine how hard it would be to wipe away such a mental image, especially when our own parents' faces also usually turn white at the mention of the word - 'dentist'.

When Joey came home last week and told me excitedly that she was called up for her first dental check-up, I knew things were different now.

According to Joey, the dentist is a pretty-looking lady who was nice and smiled a lot. She was kind and gentle, and taught her the right way to brush her teeth. It was a preliminary check, so the dentist only did some basic cleansing for her. She was to be called up again in a couple of days' time, to do filling for some of her teeth. It must have been a really pleasant experience because she couldn't wait for the next dental check-up. She was really called up again two days later, and this time round, the dentist did some filling for her, and reminded her again to take good care of her teeth, brush carefully and thoroughly twice a day.

Joey also came home with a travel kit of toothbrush & toothpaste, which she cherished like a treasure. Ever since the kind dentist lady taught her the correct way to brush her teeth, she had been conscientiously brushing her teeth the correct way, and because of that, brushing teeth is now a full ten-minute affair, complete with the full works (You know - 10 times upwards, 10 times downwards, then move on to the next set of 2 teeth.... blah blah blah). I am sure you would have vague memories of the 'correct' way of brushing teeth too, but the issue is really how many of us are practising it faithfully. =X

There is also a chart that Joey updates faithfully everyday after brushing her teeth. Remember how I shared about how well Joey follows instructions in school? This is another classic example. But of course, I am not complaining. Always good to take care of our teeth.

It turns out that the schools are still using the same old method of calling up students for dental check-ups now! Any student who has had their teeth checked will bring the dental card of the next student back to the class. Looks like some things never change? :P

Read the rest of the entries in Mum's Diary.