Toothy stories :)

Last Saturday, Ammu lost her first milk tooth.. the lower middle incisor. Rather, it was taken out by the dentist after it had refused to fall.. it had been shaky for more than a month! Though, thankfully, there had been no pain on that account.

At 7 and a half years of age! This is somewhat late, considering the normal timeline. She had been eagerly waiting for it to happen, since most of her friends and class mates had started losing theirs from quite sometime. Also, due to this delay, the permanent teeth, the 2 lower middle ones have already erupted behind the milk teeth.

It was her first visit to the dentist too. Couple of days back, she had started to complain of some pain in the upper middle incisor. That was also shaking now… though no where near falling stage. The doctor suggested doing an X ray to ascertain the cause…Turns out, one side of the permanent tooth is very close to the milk tooth and gets pressed while chewing… causing the pain Again, thankfully, not too much…

And.. she had her first dental procedure done! There was a slight decay in one of her lower molar. Got it filled up. After much prodding and then an ultimatum, she had started brushing her teeth before going to bed. But the problem was that she would finish the chore as quickly as possible.. in under 2 minutes!

The doctor gave a demo of the right way to brush, and told her that it will take at least 4 minutes. That she shouldn’t hurry to finish, if she’s to have a good set. At the time, I didn’t think it would have much impact… the doctors words, that is. But that night when she finished brushing, she came and asked me how much time she’d taken!! Frankly, I hadn’t kept count. And this happened for the next two nights as well!! On the third night, she told me to keep count when she went to brush. I told her that she took 4 min Though, I need to actually keep an eye out to check her technique, which I haven’t been doing… lazy me

I am hoping that she’ll take good care of her teeth and spare me the trouble and expense!! Mean I sound… but I really wish she won’t have to go through the pain and discomfort that comes on account of not caring for her precious teeth! And the same goes for her health too!! Its unto us to instill this value in her… I hope I will be able to do it…

Anxious .. yet, Hopeful