First Visit to Pediatric Dentist, Singapore | Review of Thomson Dental

I don’t often hear toddlers going for a dentist check-up. I heard these from fellow parents, “It’s just the first set of teeth.”, “Not many teeth anyway.” or “The dentist can’t do much as well, except ask a few questions. Waste of time and money.”

Hence, I wasn’t too sure of when to go to a dentist or which one to go to. I waited till she turned one year before I did some research. Turns out, the recommended age to bring your child to the dentist is 6 months to 1 year after the first tooth has grown out and no later than 1-2 years old.

This is more of a preventive measure. Visiting a dentist early on in life helps your child to be more familiar with the dental environment, and reduces the chances of tooth decay upon the dentist’s early warnings or advice. Also, if the child only visits the dentist when in pain, there’s a tendency to associate pain with a dentist.

This article is a good read before your child’s first dental visit: doctorxdentist.com/childs-first-dental-visit-singapore.

Our Choice: Thomson Dental Centre


I read about the highly raved pediatric dentist, Dr Tabitha at Thomson Dental Centre and indeed, the next available appointment was in 2 months’ time. I went ahead anyway since I don’t know many recommended pediatric dentists.

I didn’t want a general dentist because it was baby EX’s first visit and I wanted a dentist experienced with kids to avoid instilling dentist fear in her. Moreover, I assume pediatric dentists will know better what to watch out for or focus on for children.

Dr Tabitha’s fees are on the high side, so if you don’t think it’s a necessary expense there are plenty of other options such as public institutions (e.g. National Dental Centre). The first bill was S$160 and the second bill S$171.20 (incl.GST).

Price Breakdown:

  • First Consultation: S$90
  • Subsequent Consultation: S$50
  • Scaling and Polishing: S$60
  • Topical Fluoride Application: S$50

Our Experience with Dr Tabitha


Our First Visit

Baby EX had her first dental visit when she was about 20 months old. For both our visits during Feb and Jul 2019, we didn’t have to wait long in the comfortable lounge of Thomson Dental. In fact, we waited less than five minutes on our second visit.

The dentist room exudes an inviting atmosphere for children. Near the door is a heap of toys to entertain or distract the children. Dr Tabitha and the nurse were always friendly as they welcomed us and baby EX into the room.

On our first visit, Dr Tabitha spent some time understanding Baby EX’s habits and history, such as whether she sleeps with a milk bottle, uses a pacifier, how we brush her teeth, etc. 

Usually, the first visit is for the dentist to understand more about the child and educate parents on the best practices in dental care. However, Baby EX had a very obvious yellow stain on her teeth and I asked if it could be “removed”.

“Yes,” Dr Tabitha said. Polishing could be done to make the teeth white again. However, this is usually not done on the first visit because some kids might be scared off. We tested waters and since Baby EX seemed to be brave and calm enough to go through the polishing, we went ahead. And woah, she had sparkling white teeth after that! Yays!

As Dr Tabitha polished her teeth, she sang and distracted baby EX. It’s not any song sang just any old how. The song’s rhythm matched what she was doing. I am not sure how to describe it, but in any case, she was good at putting the child at ease while she went through the dental procedure. No wonder she comes highly recommended.

She gave us two complimentary mini tubes of Kodomo toothpaste and told us it is okay now for baby EX to use a bit of fluoride. This is to prevent the yellow stain from returning.

For our second visit, I was proud to say that the yellow stain didn’t return. However, Dr Tabitha told me that the stains behind her teeth were worse than the first time round! Oh no. She guessed it was because the toothbrush we used was a bit too hard for her. So she recommended a more appropriate toothbrush and toothpaste for us.

Dr Tabitha used our toothbrush to clean Baby EX’s teeth in the beginning before using the dentist’s equipment. That’s why she suggested that the toothbrush could be one of the reasons for the stains. Or perhaps, I neglected to brush the back as I kept focusing on the front, the appearance of her teeth.

Now that Baby EX is older, it seems expensive to keep going back to Dr Tabitha. However, she knows Baby EX’s history and is really good and friendly. Dilemma. What’s your experience with her? Or let me know if you have other more affordable dentists to recommend. Leave a comment below!

Our Second Visit

Details

p.s. This is not a sponsored post. 🙂




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