Making friends with the Dentist

It's promising to be a much more interesting week than last week. The sun is up again for the third day in a row!

 Mr. Bean at the Dentist (animation)

This Mama sure never thought that she would ever be grateful for Mr. Bean. 

Although the animation is not too bad (especially compared with the original Mr. Bean), Mama is still not a fan.

Kecil, however, is a big fan. Apparently there's something appealing about the whole simplistic ideas, the laugh reels... I don't know.

But the thing is, at least for today, I am grateful.

For thanks to Mr. Bean, Kecil is comfortable with the idea of the dentist.

I think that for most of us, visit to the dentist often fill us with dread.

And I have been racking my brain on how to get Kecil to get her teeth checked.

Thanks to Bean, however, Kecil simply got interested in the whole idea, to the extent of forcing Mama to 'fill her teeth' during a pretend dentist visit at home.

Capitalizing on the interest, we went for a check up yesterday.

It was a quick, painless process, just a simple check up and cleaning.

And Kecil was wonderfully co-operative.

I swear I think my heart will burst with pride.

And she even waited patiently while Mama went through a similar (albeit slightly longer) process.

Ah, Kecil, you really made Mama proud yesterday, and everyday, actually.

Just something I read somewhere, the advice goes that you should try to bring the kid early, even before he/she needs a dentist, instead of waiting until he/she develops cavities.
Twice yearly dental check up is one cornerstone of good oral hygiene, and with a bit of consistency (and some luck) the kid might coast through childhood without ever developing any major dental problem.
Mama herself had to go through many dental 'torture' thanks to all kinds of reasons (most notably, sweet tooth).
Yesterday's visit was not as easy on Mama's nerves as it was on Kecil's. But hey, for Kecil's sake, Mama gritted her teeth and valiantly put up a brave front. It won't do to show bad example, yes?
We sincerely hope that the experience would be very much different for Kecil.

How about you? Any interesting stories about your friendship (or the lack thereof) with the dentist?