Grandma shook her head listening to Willie say,”Grandma, do I have to go to the dentist”?

Willie called back from the other room,” Why do I have to go to the dentist, today”?

Here we go, thought Grandma Hattie, then she said. “Please come in here, Willie. I am tired of shouting back and forth.”  Willie answered as he walked towards his grandma. “yes mam.”

Grandma Hattie sat Willie down and said, Willie to answer your question, do I have to go to the dentist, yes, you do”!

Willie whined as he said, “But why do I have to go to the dentist when I just went six months ago”?

Grandma really didn’t like it when Willie whined and she said, ” Willie, stop whining, nobody likes a whiner”!

Then Grandma Hattie took him through all the reasons he had to go to the dentist:

• The dentist needs to keep a close check on your teeth and gums to make sure they are healthy
• The dentist needs to find cavities while they are small and easy to take care of
• The dentist wants to make sure you know how to brush your teeth properly
• To have the cleanest and healthiest teeth, you need to have them cleaned twice a year by the dentist.

“Okay, I guess I do have to go to the dentist,” said Willie.

With his grandma’s help, Willie takes good care of his teeth just as th dentist tells him to; do you?

Let’s see how you do answering these questions:

• How many times should you brush your teeth every day?
• When should you brush your teeth each day?
• Do you have to brush all of your teeth, or just the front ones?
• How many minutes do you need spend brushing your teeth?
• How often should you get a new tooth brush?
• Why do you need to floss your teeth?
• How many times a day do you need to floss to get stuff from between your teeth that the tooth brush can’t get?
• How many times a year do you need to see the dentist?

How did you do? If you got stuck, ask a parent or big brother or sister to go over your answers with you.