My undergraduate exposure to paediatric dentistry was 'patchy' at best. I was the student assigned the child that failed to attend or the child that needed impressions for an orthodontic appliance. Three years ago, I would have described my paediatric specialities as the acclimatisation visit and the general anaesthetic consent form. Still, I passed my competencies and graduated, despite never having given a child an ID block nor taken out a tooth from a conscious patient.