Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Pediatric Dentist in Singapore

GPA Dental - In the Kids' Dental Room


My 3 year old son was never a big fan of toothbrush and toothpaste. In fact it was only recently when my friend introduced me to "First Teeth" toothpaste which is clear and fluoride-less that I am able to sneak the toothpaste on the toothbrush without him noticing it.

His two front teeth started to discolor at the age of 2 years old due to drinking Pediasure Milk Chocolate flavor all the time and not brushing his teeth. Recently, while cleaning his teeth, I noticed there's already a build up of plaque at the back of his lower front teeth. That raised alarm bells and I decided to search for  children dentist in Singapore. Apparently, the popular children dental clinics in Singapore are always fully booked a few months in advance. Well, that doesn't work for me as I am seldom in Singapore and my window of opportunity is always small. After calling up The Kids Dentist and Smile Focus and finding out that they are full for December, I settled for GPA Dental at Parkview Square.

I explained to them about my child's dislike for cleaning teeth and request for a dentist that is good with children. The receptionist answered that they will arrange for a pediatric dentist and the children dental room for my kid's first visit to the dentist. She informed me that the children dental room is equipped with a computer and I can bring my kid's favorite DVD should I want to. Great, it was easy to get an appointment, the place is at Parkview Square and I read in Singapore Motherhood Forum that someone was charged $300+ for agreeing to go with all the treatments suggested, I'm getting kind of nervous here about the dental fees, so I asked the lady if I can pay using the Child Development Account and she said yes! Phew, at least the fees will be less painful on the wallet.

GPA Dental - Kids Playroom

Playing with the stool

Kids Playroom at GPA Dental - Color pencils but no paper


My kid was cheerful today, I had prepped him for the dentist visit for 1 month now and he knows that the dentist is going to make his teeth white and him more "handsome". It helps that Parkview Square also has lots of fountain and statues at its courtyard and my son is very interested in water bodies and statues. He was pretty excited taking the elevator too as the place is quite grand looking. At the 14th floor, we arrived at GPA Dental. Registration was quite fast and we waited in the children playroom. The playroom is very small, I think it can fit maximum of 5 kids in there for them to play comfortably. There are some books (in disarray) and lots of soft toys and a table with a container of color pencils but no paper supplied that some kids had drawn on the wall instead. Nevertheless, my child played happily in the room. 5 minutes later Dr JD Tan arrived and sat in the room with my son and introduced himself. He established rapport with my kid and explained that he is going to make my son's teeth clean and will take him to a special room. All's well since my child does not really have an idea of what is to come.

My son followed the kids' dentist to the special kids' dental room happily, the room was very cheerful and hi-5 was playing on the computer screen. Dr JD Tan advised me to sit on the dentist chair with my kid on my lap since it's his first visit to a children dentist. He then explained to my son about how he is going to clean my son's teeth, ok, my child was a bit uncomfortable when the chair was lowered down but seems fine, cheery sunglasses was put on, lights shone on his face, still ok, then when the pediatric dentist wanted to clean his teeth with the cleaning device.. my son started wailing. Like I mentioned, he dislike cleaning his teeth. He cried for a good 10 minutes and Dr JD Tan was pacifying him, talking softly but I guess his intonation is too flat, not interesting enough for kids, I mean really if you are dealing with kids, you got to make things seem exciting for them right? and things don't seem exciting with a soft voice. After a while, Dr JD Tan suggested that we try another time, but mommy surely does not want the visit to go to waste right? So, we dumped the whirring machine and tried the scraper instead with mommy testing it a bit on her son first to see his reaction. Hmm.. he seems ok and Dr JD Tan took over. He scraped quite a lot of plaque and my son opened his mouth even bigger as he sees how much plaque there is in his mouth. At the end of it, we tried to use the whirring machine again to clean the discolored front teeth but my son started to wail again. Ah well, it was good enough for me that there wasn't any tooth decay and the plaque are all out. The trip to the children dentist was a fruitful one and my son's smile is so much brighter now :)

Acknowledgement of visit to the Pediatric Dentist -yeay!

How much did it cost me? $35 for consultation and $80 for cleaning add in the GST it's slightly less than $120 and all paid by the Child Development Account. Don't forget to bring your child's original birth certificate and your IC and the ATM card if you plan to pay by the Child Development Account too!

Next visit to a Pediatric Dentist will be in 6 months time, will I come back to GPA Dental? Maybe, but I am also quite keen in trying Smile Focus too.. depends on the availability then..

GPA Dental is at #14-04 Parkview Square Tel: 6732 1020. They also have branches at United Square, Holland V and Balmoral Plaza.

Map and pictures of Parkview Square:

Parkview Square Entrace 

Parkview Square from Fraser St view




View Larger Map


You May Also Like:

Children Dentist @ Smile Focus
Jacob Ballas Children Garden
Central Fire Station Visit

8 comments:

  1. Dear Mr Seah Shen,

    Thank you for your comment, please e-mail nur.salmah@live.com.sg if you need to advertise on this blog, we might be able to meet to and understanding.

    Regard,
    Nur

    ReplyDelete
  2. JD Tan is not a certified pediatric dentist, he is a GP who only graduated a few years ago. I brought my child to these so-called "children's specialists", ended up paying a bomb, and my child had to be put under GA for just 2 teeth extraction. Later on, I found out she had more teeth with decay, and she had to be put under GA a second time. Ended up paying more! A properly trained pediatric dentist would only perform dental surgery under GA once, and fix all problems in your child's mouth. Always look for the extra credentials after the dentist's basic degree. A basic BDS alone means he is just a GP who sees kids!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Loriadne,

      My goodness! I am so sorry about your child.. it must have been a painful experience for her. I thought so that Dr JD Tan looked a bit young and inexperienced in handling kids, that's why I didn't go to him the next time. I went to Smile Focus instead. The dentist there also immediately identified my son's discolored tooth as internal bleeding caused by a previous tooth injury whereas Dr JD Tan didn't even say anything about it. I think if my kid has any teeth problem I would choose Smile Focus over GPA Dental anytime..

      Delete
  3. Just came back from a visit to Dr JD Tan at GPA Dental. It's our second visit & we are really happy with it. The playroom and children's room put my 33 month old at ease quickly and Dr JD Tan was very good dealing with my child. I guess it has been awhile since the original post & he has gained plenty of experience dealing with children since then. : )

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amelia Davis,

    Please do not spam my comments.If you need to advertise on my blog, please email me direct at nur.salmah@live.com.sg


    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
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