Parenting 101

Aug 30, 2010

Editor's note: Dr. Doniger's column, Dental Diaries, appears regularly on the DrBicuspid.com advice and opinion page, Second Opinion.

For those of you who personally know me, I do not like to be called "Bubbe," "Nannie," or "Grannie." Yes, I know I have achieved grandmother status with the birth of Bree, but I am not ready for the same moniker that my mother and grandmother wore all those many years ago.

That being said, the best thing about being a parent is when your children have children. It is a wonderful experience. It is liberating when you are able to give unconditional love, spoil the child, and then return them to their parents.

It is also highly frustrating. Due to the accessibility of websites such as babycenter.com and whattoexpect.com, the young mothers and fathers of today are inundated with information. They receive daily and weekly updates on the status of their newborn's maturation and development. The markers of smiling, sitting, and crawling are sent out via e-mail on a daily basis, and the new babies are measured by norms created by databases.

This information was previously generated by pediatricians. But today's young parents are able to "diagnose," or at least do a differential on, their baby's symptoms prior to calling the pediatrician. How things have changed!

Herein lies the issue: Several weeks ago, my granddaughter had been shoving her fist in her mouth and experiencing excess salivary flow. My observation, without the aid of an Internet search, was, "She is teething." My children said no. According to both babycenter.com and whattoexpect.com, babies don't start to get teeth until much later.

OK. All my years of teaching embryology and the evidence-based visualization of patient's babies, not to mention my own personal firsthand parental knowledge, did not adequately teach me about when a child is teething. Apparently I didn't learn it in dental school, either.

After a few weeks, we looked into my granddaughter's mouth and saw the erupting central. But apparently, she was still "too early." Then two weeks ago, the lower left primary central popped out. Most recently, her second central joined it. She is now shoving appropriate plastic teething rings into her mouth, along with her fist, because finally she is truly teething.

It is amazing how much information is out there. It is also amazing how much your children think you do not know, even if you are an expert in the field. I will say one thing: I am so happy I chose dentistry as a profession. I give credit to all the pediatricians out there. With all the information now available online, they don't stand a chance.

Sheri Doniger, D.D.S., practices clinical dentistry in Lincolnwood, IL. She has served as an educator in several dental and dental hygiene programs, has been a consultant for a major dental benefit company, and has written for several dental publications. Most recently, she was the editor of Woman Dentist Journal and Woman Dentist eJournal. You can reach her at [email protected].

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