Teeth, Teeth, Glorious Teeth

The other week, my 13-year-old niece Brianna had a sore tooth. I asked if I could have a look and to my amazement she had a massive cavity in her back tooth.

Brianna’s mum, my twin sister, is doing it tough right now. She has four children, aged 20, 13, 12 and 10, and is fighting breast cancer. Her marriage dissolved just before she was diagnosed about five years ago.

My kids, who are 13, 11 and 9, are close to their cousins but live very different lives. I suppose they just haven’t had to go through so many trials in their short lives. It’s very sad for me to see as I love my sister’s children dearly.
Brianna hasn’t visited a dentist since she was four, which isn’t uncommon in some families as it’s not always something people can afford. My husband and I made a decision to take our kids to the dentist regularly, every six months, which I believe teaches them to look after their teeth themselves later in life.

As parents, we have the job of training up our kids for their adult lives. Teaching them general hygiene is just one of those jobs. This doesn’t guarantee you won’t get holes in your teeth, but we need to try to prevent it from happening if possible.
My sister rang the local dentist, who sees patients through the Government’s Medicare scheme, but she couldn’t get an appointment for weeks as the waiting lists were long.

My husband and I decided that we would take Brianna to our dentist because she was in such intense pain and we didn’t want the hole to get any bigger, or worse still risk the possibility of a more invasive and painful dental procedure. So I booked the appointment and off we went. The dentist was very caring as Brianna was very nervous.

I’m telling this story to help other parents teach their kids to be diligent in cleaning their teeth. We only get one final set and I know that sometimes even though we tell our kids to clean their teeth they still don’t. Hang in there and they will thank you later in life!

Teaching our kids is so important. We don’t always get it right, but we are the main influence in their lives and they watch our every move.

I may be talking specifically about teeth today, but teaching our kids to shower and instilling general hygiene is vital. Don’t go nuts if they forget to clean their teeth for one day, but do be like a broken record and drill it into them. Be consistent. Make sure they clean their teeth at least once a day, even if they hate it, there’ll be less chance for those cavities to form.

Brianna is going great guns now and has a new challenge in her young life. She has learned that her teeth are precious and that she must brush them regularly and look after them if she wants to keep them for the rest of her life.

Belinda xx