Munchkin Mommy

The 29th of July was a day of another "first" for Abby.  After countless postponements and rescheduling, we finally were able to bring Abby to a dentist for her first dental check-up.  I’ve read that ideally, a child should see the dentist for a check-up when the first tooth erupts.  If that were the standard, then we should be embarrassed for having waited this long.

We didn’t want to bring Abby to just any dentist.  We wanted a pediatric dentist, for obvious reasons.  After having personally experienced the class A services of Dentista, Inc., we decided that it’s the perfect clinic for Abby, specially because it lists pediatric dentistry as one of its services.

Doctor Jorge

Dr. Jorge Junio is the only pediatric dentist of Dentista, Inc.’s Shangri-la branch.  Being such, making an appointment with him is not very easy.  Add to that the fact that he is only available on Saturdays. Unlike the rest of Dentista Inc.’s pool of dentists who are all garbed in knee-length white overcoats, Doc Jorge is in colorful scrubs, like the dentists’ assistants.

When Abby was called in to see him, we were led to "seat no. 3".  Normally, there’s a separate room for the kids but we were told that the dentist’s chair in that room was not working at the moment, so Abby had to take a "regular seat".

Doc Jorge introduced himself to Abby, much like a clown introducing himself to a child.  He briefed Dondi and me on what to expect from the visit.  He said that there are times that the child is unwilling to cooperate and may have to sit on the lap of either parent while he does his "thing".  We were told that the child sometimes gets intimidated or scared when he starts to wear his mask and when he takes out the pointed instruments.  And if the child proved to be too unwilling, then we might have to re-schedule.

Every piece of instrument and gadget suddenly became a thing of magic.  To help Abby feel at ease, Doc Jorge told her that she was sitting on a "magic chair".  The magic chair went up and down a couple of times before it was finally reclined into a position that would give Doc Jorge a better view of Abby’s teeth.  Then, the "magic light" was turned on.  Doc Jorge patiently explained to Abby every single thing he had to do and always sampled the "procedure" on her fingernails.  Doc Jorge’s assistant, who is also a dentist, Dondi and I acted like a cheering squad.  We counted aloud along with Doc Jorge when he was counting Abby’s teeth and while he was scraping debris from Abby’s teeth.

After a few minutes into the check-up proper, Abby started to get up from the chair looking like she’s about to cry and reached for me.  This was exactly what we were told might happen.  And so, I carried Abby, sat myself on the "magic chair" and had Abby sit on my lap.  Abby was handed a "magic mirror" to hold so she can see what was being done to her teeth.  Thankfully, she gave her full cooperation the rest of the check-up such as smiling when asked to do so. Doc Jorge was able to successfully clean Abby’s teeth, as in "toddler prophylaxis".

The final verdict was "no cavities".  Doc Jorge seemed a bit amazed when he made that little announcement, which prompted me to ask if kids Abby’s age normally had cavities already.  "Naku, ubos na!" was his reply.  I felt a sense of relief after he said that because while it may have taken us this long to bring Abby to a dentist, we made sure she did her fair share of toothbrushing, or more like me brushing her teeth.

Abby is still missing 4 teeth before she has her full set of milk teeth and, like everybody else, will have to come back for cleaning after six months. At the end of the check-up, Doc Jorge gave Abby a glove which he made into a balloon and on which he drew a face plus Barney stickers.

The damage on our wallet is Php 700.00.  Ang mahal talaga ng balloon at sticker! :)  We believe that’s a very reasonable price.  I guess parents don’t really mind expenses such as this as long as the precious little ones are given the best possible care and attention.  And that’s exactly what Abby got.

Normally, we have pictures of every one of Abby’s "firsts".  We meant to do that but I left the camera in my bag with Abby’s nanny at the clinic’s reception area.  Abby was alrady seated in the "magic chair" when I realized it.  Oh well, sa next visit na lang.

Happy toothbrushing, everyone!