My First Dental Experience

2 months ago, Mommy noticed that one of my upper front teeth (the left side canine) looks slightly darker. She quickly cleaned it with a hankerchief, but it just won't come out. Looks like I have a tooth decay, not just mere discoloration. And then she saw that the tooth next to it was also starting to turn yellowish and showeing signs of decay too.

Daddy was rather concerned, so they took me to see their usual dentist last month. We spent the whole morning there (it happened to be a public holiday - Malaysia Day) waiting for our turn. You see, we couldn't get a slot, as it was fully booked till a few months later, and the receptionist asked us to walked-in directly. So basically that's how we spent our holiday - we even went to Youth Park for a few rounds of swings before coming back in the afternoon to try our luck.

When we're finally ushered in, Jie Jie got her turn first. It was a big mistake, because she kept crying and thus somehow affected me, even though I was not afraid initially. Ended up the dentist only checked her with Daddy carrying her, but found nothing wrong with her teeth. As for me, Mommy was carrying me, and the dentist mentioned that I had the Baby Bottle Tooth Decay, and I needed filling. But at less than 2.5 years old, I was too small to go for that. So there's nothing we could do, except keep on brushing. And if I started to feel painful, I'll have to go for extraction, but they can only do it at the Adventist Hospital by putting me in an unconscious state. That's really scary, Daddy didn't want to take that risk. Mommy went on to enquire if my teeth fell out before the permanet teeth started to grow, what will happen? According to the dentist, it's still ok because mine is the front teeth. If it's the hind teeth, then it'll affect the new permanent teeth when it came out, it won't be straight and nice.

Ok, so that's about the history. One fine day, Mommy's good friend saw my poor teeth and told us that her son also had 4 teeth like this. And her husband's dentist friend managed to fill them up for him. So this gave Mommy and Daddy hope again. Mommy called to make appointment, but again, all was fully booked. Then, she's told that there was one slot but it was during her working time. She took leave just to bring me there - as the dental was across the bridge, all the way in Alma.

So, off we went, we use the GPS to help us locate the place since we're not familiar with that area, and this time, we left Jie Jie behind - at school :) Before my turn, Mommy has prep me about this, and I was very brave. I told Mommy I'm not scared, because after I had my teeth filled, I would be able to drink Mommy's nen nen, eat mentos, chocolates, lollipop, Mc. Donald, etc..!!

While waiting for my turn, there's a screen showing the different process needed for each treatment. Filling was one of them. So Mommy explained the process to me, and I kept nodding my head showing her I understood everything.

So when my turn came, I went into the dentist room. Mommy put me at the treatment chair, I didn't even resist!

Then, the dentist checked my teeth...

I opened my mouth big big for him!

Oops... he found something dirty so he needed to clean it away. When it's done, I was asked to gurgle, but I was reluctant to do so, and he said it's okay :)

He then started the filling - I used my tongue to lick it, but he told me not to do so, as it'll melt the filling away. I was really co-operative and followed his intructions!

The last process was to shine the light at my filled teeth - to make it stronger it seems

One final check....

 and I'm all done!

See my new teeth - no more cavities!

Mommy and Daddy was really proud of me - I didn't cry at all throughout the whole process. And, the dentist actually filled not 1 tooth, but 2! Throughout the process, he asked me questions, and I answered him very well. He asked about my Jie Jie, my school, etc. and he praised me for being very co-operative.

Mommy asked the dentist how long this filling can last, he said that it depends on a lot of factors, such as  brushing, and also the food I take. This is most likely related to Baby Bottle Tooth Decay.

Mommy was curious why Jie Jie who takes a bottle of milk before she sleeps does not have this problem compared to me, who will nurse lying down before I sleep. In both cases, we didn't brush our teeth again after the last feeding. Well, she googled for it and found this. Looks like the decay was not due to breastfeeding while sleeping. There're 2 main things that she'll like to highlight here:

1. One of the reasons for nighttime bottles causing tooth decay is the pooling of the liquid in baby's mouth (where the milk/juice bathes baby's teeth for long periods of time). Breastmilk is not thought to pool in the baby's mouth in the same way as bottled milk because the milk doesn't flow unless the baby is actively sucking. Also, milk from the breast enters the baby's mouth behind the teeth. If the baby is actively sucking then he is also swallowing, so pooling breast milk in the baby's mouth appears not to be an issue.

 2. Much research indicates that it's the other foods in baby's diet (rather than breastmilk) that tend to be the main problem when it comes to tooth decay. The 1999 Erickson study (in which healthy teeth were immersed in different solutions) indicated that breastmilk alone was practically identical to water and did not cause tooth decay - another experiment even indicated that the teeth became stronger when immersed in breastmilk. However, when a small amount of sugar was added to the breastmilk, the mixture was worse than a sugar solution when it came to causing tooth decay. This study emphasizes the importance of tooth brushing and good dental hygiene.


So, ever since then, I've been diligently brushing my teeth, if not I'll let Mommy do it with a piece of hankerchief