My Daughter the Dentist!!

I think most of us have a very real fear of going to the dentist - usually for good reason! Strangely, many of my good friends are dentists and I still have that fear myself, in fact, after talking to a few of my dentist friends recently, many of them also fear climbing into the dentist’s chair! Hahaha This got me thinking about why and how this fear manifests, so when I got my appointment for a 6-month check-up I called my dentist and told them about my little blog and my determination to spend more time with the family. I also explained that I wanted Jade to see the “fun” side of going to the dentist and prevent her from going into a cold sweat when the word “dentist” is used. As a child, my parents were very strict about the 6-month check-up… but whenever it came around the fear was unreal. Our dentist WAS Satan reincarnated in my eyes, his clinic was in an old, affluent area but the waiting room was ALWAYS empty (never a good sign!). The stench of burnt teeth was disgusting and he hated kids… (in fairness we hated him back!) Just thinking about going down to his clinic gives me the Heebie Jeebies, and I certainly don’t want that to be my daughter’s experience. Our new dentist is 3 Dental at the Red Cow, it’s a modern, purpose built facility and it has a bright and airy waiting room - with lovely staff who are great craic (and don’t scare the bejesus out of little children!) When Jade arrived at the clinic with me they were only delighted to see her and made her feel very special. Then we put on her little dental scrubs (seriously… you can get anything on the internet!) and the dentists, the nurses and just about everyone in the waiting area, made her feel like a superstar. She was high fiving everyone, blowing kisses and waving like a real Princess – but this little Princess had work to do! I chatted to the staff and asked them if Jade could be the dentist for 20 minutes – I wanted her to use the mirrors, try out the suction and brush my teeth!!! They were understandably intrigued by the idea and gave us the go ahead. She was too cute once she got going; poking at my teeth (with some amount of force I might add!), using the suction (nearly giving me a fecking tonsillectomy in the process) and brushing my teeth (and trachea! I nearly coughed up a lung!). Apart from the fact that I don’t want my daughter to have a fear of the dentist, I also want her to see that with hard work and dedication she can become whatever she wants – even in a mostly male dominated field! I hope that in her formative years she remembers these experiences and she will consider plenty of career choices, knowing that jobs are done by people and barriers exist only in the minds of those who don’t question the status quo! We had an awesome morning with the guys in 3 Dental, thank you all for indulging an embarrassing dad! Having the “craic” isn’t something that you hear much of in the dental industry so it was great to see the fun side of everyone in the clinic as Jade sank her teeth into yet another career opportunity!