Bhutan Clan: The Tooth Will Out

(It used to be said that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit but I suspect it’s puns.)

Mouse Tally: 95 haven’t seen one for ages.

Somehow I thought I’d blogged about this topic but apparently not. A few months ago I was told at short notice that I should take my class of Year 3s to the science lab for a medical examination. There I found a team of medics (seemingly straight from the 1950s) offering: an eye test, a general ‘stethoscope’ sort of test and the dreaded dentist.

Thomas getting an eye test

Having a really good look!

Saving time, eye tests in threes

I felt so sorry for my poor kids as they queued silently and stoically for the dreaded dentist who casually used her dental ‘pliers’ to pull out offending teeth and drop them into a small bowl that was rapidly filling up. We took the opportunity to get our kids checked out too and the dentist had her pliers on one of Lois’s front ‘baby teeth’ ready to yank when Mum spoke up and said, “Back off Lady” or words to that effect. Sadly for my class they weren’t all baby teeth and some kids are already missing an adult tooth.

My Class 3 boys putting on a brave face

No local anaesthetic for tooth removal, these kids are tough!

Needless to say there was no prior warning (if I was a kid I’d definitely have bunked off school if I had known) and there were also no requests for parental consent. I can’t imagine how a western parent would react if their child returned home from school minus a tooth or two.