Caring for children's teeth

I'm just sharing some tips by the paediatric dentist on caring for the preschooler's teeth:

• Bring the child to see the dentist when she is young (some recommend when the first teeth sprout) to get her used to seeing one, so that when she needs cleaning or treatment done later on, she's not so afraid. I started bringing Kieran for dental visits when he was two years old. I was a bit late. Many started at one year old or younger.
• Brush the child's teeth three times a day. By this time, the child will have all his baby teeth. And he would have learnt how to spit out water after gargling. So you can brush with a fluoride toothpaste. 
• Use an adult strength fluoride toothpaste. The dentist recommended one with 1400ppm (the strength of fluoride in the toothpaste). We bought one with tutti fruitti flavour at 1350ppm, which is close enough. The fluoride will help to re-calcify the enamel if food/acid/juices decalcify it. This prevents decay. Kieran will not use an adult's toothpaste because of the mint.
• Floss the teeth which are close and tight together as trapped food will cause decay. Kieran's teeth have tiny spaces in between them which the dentist say is great because these are spaces for adult teeth to come in. That is good news for us because it means we only need to floss between those teeth that are tight together which is between the molars and between the two front teeth, total of 5 times.
• Floss at least once at night. I floss whenever his teeth trap food which is after every meals. But then I'm a SAH(Paranoid)M so it's my prerogative. Haha!
• Reduce teeth contact with food/milk/juices. Kieran usually had a bottle of milk to sip throughout the morning. I changed it to lesser amount of milk so that he can finish the milk quickly and brush his teeth. He also took very long to finish his meals so now I time him and coax him to finish his meals within an hour. He has some vitamin gummy bears a few times a week. I let him eat them before lunch, then the sweet stuff will be chomped away while he eat his lunch, and then brushed away after lunch. I also reduced his intake of sugary drinks when we go out. I used to buy him yakult or strawberry milk or fruit juices to drink while he's on the stroller. Now he drinks plain water and he only have these sweet stuff occasionally after meals and then brush after drinking it.

The paediatric dentist said his mouth and gum shape is very good and is genetically determined for a nice set of adult teeth. I hope this means no need for braces. He must have gotten the good genes from his daddy. Hubby has a beautiful set of teeth that look like you know the silhouette logo you see on 黑人牙膏 packaging? Haha!

Now, I'd also like to share some tips from another dentist on getting the preschooler to fill his teeth:

• Prepare him for the treatment. Talk to him about it, show him videos about filling teeth. Tell him that it will be quick and painless (which is true, contrary to what we believe! No, Kieran does not need local anaesthesia at all for his filling. But then again that's because his cavity was shallow. If your child needs a root canal, it will be a different story.)
• Get the calmer parent, and the parent whom the child is less attached to to accompany him into the dentist's room. In my case, it is the daddy. Kieran fussed to see mummy and the dentist and daddy said he could very soon if he will be cooperative. Daddy won't give in to his cries and whims, unlike me! So this is a very good decision, to let Daddy go in for treatment with him.
• When you bring the child for his first visit, let him get used to seeing the dentist and build a rapport with her, and let her do some less scary treatments like cleaning and polishing and checking the teeth. This also allows the child to not be afraid of lying down on the dentist's chair.
• The dentist's clinic has a computer on top that lets him watch cartoons on youtube while she fills his teeth so that's a very good distraction.
• Give a small toy as reward to the child for being brave after he has done his treatment. Kieran has been saying that he wants a doctor's toy set so we got it for him and passed it secretly to the dentist, and the dentist said she will give it to him after he gets his tooth cavity cleaned and filled. He was allowed to hug the toy while she filled his teeth.

I am so happy to see the black spot on his tooth replaced with nice white composite filling. Kieran hated brushing his teeth like all preschoolers but it's our job as parents to make sure he gets his teeth clean no matter how much he hates it. Clean teeth means no toothache, no heart pain, no anxiety and no need to worry about coaxing the child to do dental treatment, and of course, less money spent.

I noticed some greyish spots on his teeth but I guess decalcification has already taken place on some molar crevices, so I'm extra vigilant. Even if it's the festive period now and sugary temptations are everywhere, there can be no slacking off the brushing and flossing for mummy and daddy.

Kieran's cavity is filled!

Kieran's dental appointment went fantastically well! I was so happy that I finally can eat and sleep without worrying!

At the dentist's advice, daddy went into the dentist's room with Kieran instead of me. Both daddy and the dentist were pretty strict with Kieran. I heard him cry for mummy and my heart broke but my nerves were racking and it really was better for me to stay outside. My anxiety could scare Kieran. Amazingly, in 5 minutes, I heard the dentist praising Kieran because the cavity has been filled! I was so happy outside the dentist's room that I almost cried tears of joy. This means no more GA! No more dental surgery that puts my dear son at risk!

There is another cavity at the side of his molar, in between both molars but the dentist say it's too small for her to place the excavator in to dig in and she will review him next month to see if the cavity has grown big enough for her to dig. If it is still small by then, he only has to do it when he's older. Meanwhile, we floss and brush well for him.

That left hubby and I wondering why the paediatric dentist we brought Kieran to earlier on said he must do the fillings by GA when one cavity could be filled so easily? Another puzzling thing is the paediatric dentist said she will fill both larger cavities at the molars as well as other 5 smaller cavities (which the dentist who filled his teeth said are not cavities), and also put sealants on all his molar crevices, and this process will take 1.5 hour and of course charge us doctor's fee for 1.5 hour which comes up to a thousand plus! But one cavity could be filled in 5 minutes for a child who is awake and requires coaxing. If the child is not even struggling, I bet she could do it in 2 minutes. So why the 1.5hour huh?

Anyway, we have decided that he does not need the GA. But we have stupidly paid the doctor's fee at the clinic to secure a date for the GA, so we need to get the refund back from the paediatric dentist's clinic. I called earlier and the clerk said if we decided not to go ahead, we can get a refund. I don't know whether they will honour their words? I certainly hope so because it is expensive!

The lesson learnt? Always always always get a second opinion. Never rush into making decisions.

And a more important lesson: always brush and floss your child's teeth very DILIGENTLY three times a day, morning, afternoon and night, especially at night before bedtime. That could save you and your child lots of pain!

For tips on caring for your preschooler's teeth, see my blog post here.

Paranoid Mom Syndrome

Ok, is there such a syndrome actually? The Paranoid Mom Syndrome?

I am one of those paranoid moms. Ultra paranoid. I really can't explain it fully at this time since I recently just gave a name to this range of emotions, behaviours and thoughts that I have been experiencing and displaying lately.

My family just recovered from a bad bad flu with Kieran down with febrile fit right in my arms few weeks ago! It was damn scary even though I knew most likely he's not going to die. It was terrible to see it happen to your child.

The paediatric dentist suggested putting Kieran under GA to fill his teeth. He has two cavities, one on top and one at the side of two different molars. BUT GA?!!! It scared the hell out of me and I was a nervous wreck, I couldn't eat and sleep well for days thinking about it and I became so paranoid of him getting cavities that if he ate and I haven't brush his teeth yet, my thoughts are overwhelmed with nothing but paranoia about the germs eating away at his teeth. All his teeth.

It was 3.30am and I have just finished writing and submitting an article. Baby Caitlin is crying for milk. I hope all will be well tomorrow for Kieran's second dental appointment. I am scared.