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?We?ve got some sticky spots back here, Mom.?
Those were probably the last words I wanted to hear from the dental hygienist during my daughter Ruby?s appointment. A quick and sneaky chat with Toronto dentist Stephen Simpson, while Ruby played with toys in the waiting room, confirmed that my four-year-old had cavities that would need to be drilled and filled. I felt horrible, as if there were something more I could have done to prevent those cavities. She?s a kid who gets her teeth brushed and flossed well at least once a day, and gets limited junk food. So what happened and how would I prepare us for what was to come"
Grace under fire

?Be cool. Be calm, confident and positive,? says Warren Loeppky, a paediatric dentist in Calgary. ?Provide your child with very basic information, like ?The dentist is going to clean the sugar bugs out of your teeth.? Don?t frame the experience in terms of pain or punishment (?You don?t brush your teeth and now you need to get a filling at the dentist!?).? I took this advice leading up to Ruby?s appointment, but would have loved a children?s book to back up all of the cool, calm messages that my husband, Jason, and I were trying to prepare her with. Most of the books that Michael Casas, paediatric dentist and director of clinics in the department of dentistry at Toronto?s Hospital for Sick Children, has heard of don?t quite cut it when it comes to getting kids ready for the dentist. ?The Berenstain Bears series has a b...