November 1, 2009

Appu visits the dentist

I have always been so particular about Appu’s dental hygiene that I was in for a surprise when the doctor detected small cavities in her 2nd molars during a routine check. The doctor recommended filling immediately inorder to prevent any further damage.

Now, a visit to the dentist is not something that any of us really enjoy. Who likes other prodding and drilling and grinding in their mouth? Appu has always been quiet resilient as far as injections etc are concerned. But I was not too sure about how she would react to this as it was new for her. I could have taken solace from the fact that she had sat through a suturing on her tongue with minimal fuss at the age of 3 and that too without any anesthesia. I thought it would be best to prepare her and take for the procedure at a later date. We took an appointment for a week later.

I started preparing herself telling her about the 2 worms that had made holes in her teeth and are residing there. Made a story about how the worms got inside and started eating the leftovers lodged in her teeth since she wasn’t brushing her teeth properly and how they became so fat that they could not come out of the hole. The doctor would now have to make the holes bigger so that the worms could come out (Yyyyyuuuuuucccckkkkk!!!). The tooth fairy who would be visiting her shortly (One of her milk tooth has become loose) also would not be too happy to see the worms and might leave without any gifts. I am not too sure that Appu believed any of these but she atleast pretended to and kept telling all about the worms that are going to be pulled out from her mouth (Double yyyuuuuuuccccckkkkk!!!). She was infact looking forward to it. It also helped that her doctor was rather beautiful and “stylish”.

So on D-day, that was last Thursday, mom and daughter set out armed with a lot of guts to the dentist. I admit I was a bit nervous but she was cooollll! She sat through the whole procedure with a lovely enchanting smile on her face. The doctor also was a real darling and made sure she got her involved in the process as well. Each procedure was explained to her in a cute way and she was bowled over by the doctor. So all in all it was a great success but I still hope that we do not have the requirement of such visits apart from the routine checks!

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