First Field Trip

Charlotte's first dental visit was in Oct last year, and we have been making dental appointment for her every 3 months for regular check-up since then. You can imagine how pro she is by now when comes to dentist.

Her school sent out a notice just before the holiday started saying that they will be bringing the children to visit a dental clinic as well as getting their teeth checked during the 1st week of the new term and asking for parents agreement. Why not? It is free, and it is almost time for Charlotte's dental check-up anyway. So I signed the agreement and submitted.

I agreed to the school teachers that I will help to drive some of the children that day but I did not tell Charlotte that I will be there. So, she was VERY happy to see me when I showed up in her school! Her teacher arranged 3 of her best friends to go with her and she had the biggest smile ever! She kept asking with a big grin on her face "mommy, why my friend friend all go with me?"

They had a short briefing on proper ways of taking care of their teeth and proper way of brushing. Everyone was so well behaved and focused on the briefing.

One of the many things that I am very pleased with the school's teaching is they really teach and remind the children of good manners at ALL time! Each one of them was asked to greet the dentist before they proceed with the check-up, and to say "thank you" when it is done. Every little one did exactly as told. The teachers didn't forget the children's drinking bottles even for that short 1.5 hour event. The teachers brought all the bottles in a basket to the clinic.

After the briefing, they moved into the dentist work area and introduced all the tools and equipments used by a dentist to the children. I think it was a very good strategy to let the children know what those are and how it is used to minimize the anxiety one may feels.

Then the examination started, the children were called one by one for the check-up while a teacher prepared with a story telling to keep the rest occupied.

One small observation I made was, see the gloves the dentist wore and the paper towel on the kid? The dentist changed to a new pair of gloves and new set of tools after each child's checking (yes, he should right?), no big deal but he also changes new paper towel for each child even though the checking was a VERY "dry" process. There were about 16 of them, I bet the nurses had the most to throw away and clean up/sterilize (the tools) that day.

That was not all, before they left the clinic gave each of them a small pack of present. It contains a Oral-B kid's tooth brush, a pack of drink and biscuits. Can you imagine that it was all FREE? I think the dentist has done a very good contribution back to the society. I appreciated his effort and willingness to do that and very thankful to the school for making such a meaningful event for the children.

p/s: The clinic is located at Sunway Tunas, "We Care Dental Clinic".