At midnight, the whole family woke up to my 3-year-old son's cries: "Help, mom! My tooth aches!" We ran to his rescue and found the usually brave boy in tears.

"You shouldn't have had that lollypop," I told him as I brushed his teeth.

While Chinese children drink more calcium-rich milk that helps strengthen their teeth the unprecedented array of snacks available to them pose serious health challenges. Like other parents, we have been fighting tooth and nail to safeguard our son's pearly whites.

But we have found it is not an easy battle to win in today's crowded health system.

On one occasion my son suffered from inflammation of the middle ear and we hurried to a leading pediatric hospital at about 4 am. But the doctors in the emergency department couldn't treat him.

To return home and go back to the hospital was unrealistic, as hundreds of parents would throng to the hospital for registration before 6 am. If we wanted to find a chief doctor, we had to be among the first five registered. I thought this was also a good opportunity to check my son's teeth, which had a hole in the middle of the upper teeth.

We sat through the morning in the corridor and I recalled some cold mornings many years ago, when my parents took me and my sister to check our teeth at the best hospital in our southern city.

We inherited uneven teeth from our parents, who hoped we would grow up with bolder, sweeter smiles. The bus ride was two hours and we had to wait even longer before seeing the doctor.

When we finally saw the doctor, the young dentist joked: "Momoe Yamaguchi has such protruding canine teeth." TV dramas featuring the Japanese star were very popular in China 20 years ago.

Cold, hungry and tired, I didn't appreciate the joke. I asked my parents not to bother about my teeth any more, and they reluctantly obeyed.

Over the years, my uneven teeth have caused me trouble but I've learned to deal with it. When it came to my son's turn, I finally understood the pain and regret that my parents must have felt when they gave in.

That morning, we registered for the ear expert and the chief dentist. Like other hospitals, the ear and tooth departments shared one corridor, packed with anxious parents and kids.

The ear problem was treated swiftly, but the dentist glanced at my son's mouth, asked his age and waved us away: "He is too young to cooperate."

Elsewhere, in the room, many of the older children were screaming and scratching. Obviously, they couldn't cooperate any better. We left.

I've learned from other parents that we should reach the hospital after midnight to get an appointment with the few "amiable" children's dentists in big hospitals. And they charge twice as much as private clinics (150 yuan per tooth).

The lollypop incident propelled us to take my son to a private dental clinic where I often get my teeth cleaned. Neat and cozy, the clinic won over my son immediately.

He called the dentist "Auntie" and climbed into the huge chair without help. However, when the doctor announced there were seven teeth that needed mending, it was I who panicked.

The brave boy didn't cry or even move his tongue as the doctor washed the holes, filled and polished them. Each tooth took about 5 minutes to fix and the gaping front hole disappeared. We paid 480 yuan - I had prepared 1,000 yuan.

"The front teeth are hard to mend, come back if the filling drops out," the dentist said. This did indeed happen, but fortunately we now know where to go to get back my son's toothy smile.

(China Daily 11/26/2008 page20)