The 8 Year Old and The Dreaded Chair

Last night, my eight year old daughter was singing an old song that I never thought she could. Of course I dashed beside her and asked her to do it again for me. Alas, as soon as she opened her mouth, amidst the decaying baby teeth, grew her permanent central incisor! I felt excited because finally her permanents are beginning to pop out (the dentist said it was a bit abnormal as to why she still hasn’t grown a single permanent when she’s already 7 ½ yrs old.)

The thought of a dentist’s chair really scares the hell out of my kid so I when she learned that I was bringing her to the dentist the next day, for sure she was devastated and I bet she was thinking, “Why did I have to open my mouth wide 

enough for her to see my tooth?”

After her tutorial the following morning, she was brought by my mom to the dentist. Before I got there, it was a frustrating sight for mom and the dentist. She was sitting on the chair, asking a lot of questions as to how many injections will be given, how many baby teeth will be extracted, etc. etc. that 30 minutes went by without any action done.

When I got there, her dentist seemed to have seen an angelic sight. Maybe she was thinking , “Finally, the miracle has arrived!”

The extraction of four teeth took place for a good 30 minutes. The whole time, I was in monologue, giving her all the guarantees that everything will be fine and that all of the extractions were necessary, that she cannot do anything to stop them.

After her agony on the chair, the first thing she asked was the mirror. I thoroughly explained to her that she’s going to grow beautiful teeth in due time and she seemed contented with my statements.