Thursday, October 18, 2007

Toothbrushing

Jesse hates brushing his teeth. We've tried all kinds of ways to make it interesting for him, but nope. The boy is simply adversed to having foreign objects stuffed up his mouth.

To make matters worse, Daddy is not much of an authority of brushing teeth. You see, I'm afraid, all I can safely commit to is one brush a day. The fact is, somedays, I conveniently forget to brush before bed. Hehehh... I know how gross that must seem, but all I can say is, that's all Grandmother's fault.

"Chaat mutt yeh gwai lah," she'd scoff... erm... scornfully. Loosely translated, it pretty much means "What the hell are you brushing for?"

Heh.
The old lady was quite the battle axe, but more than often her bark was worse than her bite. Then again, that's probably attributed to the fact that she had lost all her teeth by the time she turned 30. In fact, all her contemporaries too had become toothless by their 30th birthdays.

Back in Ah Por's day, dentalcare wasn't exactly all the rage. And toothpaste was a luxury afforded only by the upper echelons society. As for Ah Por (and most of her village), they used ash from the coal stove. Which probably explains the short shelf life of their teeth. But that never stopped the old lady from brushing off the notion of brushing. Which, as a kid, was simply marvellous news.

And so, more than not, I have had to make a conscious effort to remember to brush my teeth before bed. And more than often, I fail. Thankfully, I've gone past 30 with all my teeth intact. So there! (I am SO gonna get a lecture from my dentist who reads this blog. Hahaha.)

As for Jesse, only Mae can save him now.

11 comments:

  1. Heh! I am like you, I brush my teeth in the morning and tend not to bother about brushing my teeth before I go to bed. :D

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  2. haih .. i am 28 and i already lost 3 teeth

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  3. Iused to brush my teeth twice a day. I make sure my little daughter also brush at least once a day... hehe

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  4. It's the pirate way! ARRRRR!!!!

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  5. Ash frm coal stove? That's quite foreign. Then again, Chairman Mao gargled with tea, which resulted to a very.... erh... brown smile.
    Twice a day is such a hassle la. When you want to sleep, you just want to SLEEP; who gives a rats as$ abt brushing teeth? The breath will stink in the morning still wat, with or without brushing. However, i think gargling some listerine would be enough la.
    Do u know that the right amount off toothpaste that should be used is not more than size of a pea (asian Pea... angmoh peas are damn huge). Excessive ingestion of fluoride can cause discolouration of the permanent teeth....
    Thus, once a day should be enough. Wheee

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  6. We need to talk.... with you on my dental chair.

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  7. I use FirstTeeth Baby toothpaste to brush my 16 month old's teeth and he loves it. It has a apple-banana flavor which is safe to swallow. Got it from Guardian. Initially when I first introduced the toothbrush, he hated it but with the toothpaste he loves it. At Jesse's age, maybe you should pick the toothbrush that has his fav cartoon character and he may start using it. Works with some parents I heard of.

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  8. Hehehe... I can just imagine it right now:-
    Jesse & James & Mae struggling with each other to regain control of kid-size Spidey toothbrush and Kodomo Lion toothpaste, after Jesse boy has brushed his lil' pearlies thrice before going to bed.
    :p :p :p

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  9. PB and keegan (babysitter) are the ones with brushing her teeth.. :) so i donch need to fret about it.

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  10. I seldom brush my teeth at night for 31 years now... and they are all still intact. But with yellow coffee stains lah. I think the kopi O caffeine is good for preserving teeth leh.

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  11. I can hardly tell, Jason! :)
    Really, Melvin? Natural causes?
    Good plan, Penny.
    Shiver me timbers, Fanboy, you too?
    Ah yes, I like the way you think, Amy! :lol:
    :lol: Jean, it looks like quite a few of the commenters here should see you too. Can you please work up a discount for Loopymeals readers? Hahahh!
    Yes Prissy, we tried First Teeth. In the beginning he was very cooperative. We're not sure what changed. Nothing works now, not even his uber-cool Spidey toothbrush.
    Ah, we long for the day, Maggie.
    How wonderful for you, MamaBok!
    I guess it is. Mine's yellow too, and that was way before I learnt to smoke or drink coffee.

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