The Toothbrushing Struggle

It's been so hard to brush CJ's teeth. He never liked brushing. And it's not wise to force him lest he despise toothbrushing forever.

We brought him to a Pedia Dentist once, Dr. Aida Salcedo at the Philippine Children's Medical Center. She was very nice and very knowledgeable. I think she is one of the pioneer pedia dentists in the Philippines (well, at least I think she is -- she trains the new pedia dentists and she's quite "experienced" already - ok, she's a little old. There, I said it.) I asked her a gamut of questions and she answered them all (though at one point she said, I have other patients, I don't have all the time in the world - hehe). She really knows her stuff. I just love it when I ask doctors so many things and they can answer my questions. It makes me feel that my family is in good hands. Anyway, she said that CJ has some teeth that need to be "fixed", and to do that, she needs to anesthesize the baby (an anesthesiologist has to do it) and the operation will be done in the hospital. I found it too drastic an option considering that we are talking about milk teeth here, they are bound to fall off in a few years. A n@wie (member of my yahoogroup, newlywedsatwork) asked for advice re:this operation, and someone even told of a case where the child became a special child because of a botched operation. Well, I wasn't willing to risk that so we brought CJ to hubby's dentist and she cleaned his teeth and said she would put pasta on his teeth on our next visit. Well, on our next visit CJwas cranky so it didn't push through. Maybe next time.

In n@w, some members suggested different ways of encouraging kids to brush. The most effective and doable I think is when the mommy sings while brushing her baby's teeth. Another one is the baby will brush the mommy's teeth while the mommy brushes the baby's teeth. I was thinking about how to implement this but I haven't started yet. So imagine my surprise when yesterday, I saw CJ brushing his teeth, alone, just like that. Siguro ngayon lang talaga siya ready. Praise God at nagtu-toothbrush na siya.