On Teething and Beyond

Losing baby teeth were a part and parcel of one's life - a symbol of growing up, and it is the tooth-fairy that makes this otherwise dreaded and painful processes an exciting one - something to look forward to.  ~ Mansi Maheshwari

Photo Courtesy of Pediatric Dentistry of Salem

Tato lost his upper central and lateral incisors (as shown in photo) due to baby bottle tooth decay. In layman terms, he doesn’t have his upper front teeth anymore due to tooth decay caused by sugars from liquids taken through his feeding bottles. To be more informed, we visited a dentist last week. My dentist was not around, so we end up in another village dentist and the encounter turned-out well. The female assistant and the male dentist warmly welcomed us, Tato, Toti, me and tita LR, my trustee aid. The clinic was simple and the ambiance was accommodating. Tato carefully sit on the dental chair while the dentist’s assistant put on his cloth. The lamp turned on upon the dentist’s motion of his hand, it was like a sensor.

Tato sat attentively while his dentist reminds him not to drink milk from his bottles anymore since it causes tooth decay (since that day, more than a week already, Tato had not drank milk from his feeding bottle). The dentist oriented him on what he is doing with my little boy’s teeth. Each instrument he used to examine, brush and clean Tato’s teeth was also explained to him before it actually touched his teeth to remove his apprehensions. He even had a camera to take photo of Tato’s teeth and its progress as he experience tooth eruptions, it was flashed on the screen hanging by the dental chair.  The good dentist also said that tooth eruptions vary from each child, what is important is that the child and parent have embrace the fact that teeth are important and should be taken care of.   Indeed the dentist stood by what their signage states: Family Dentist. He communicated dental terms to the the family in a manner that it can be well appreciated. Brushing will now be more fun as Tato further understand the values of his teeth. And I am happy that his experience with the dentist is something he looks forward to after three months (his second visit, this time I will take photos of him).