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General Dental Information
and Education Page
Introduction
Fillings
Gum
Disease
Root
Canals
Tooth
Extraction
Crowns
and Bridges
Dentures
and Partials
Orthodontics
Implants
Laser
Dentistry
X-rays
Nitrous
Oxide
Insurance
Cosmetic
Dentistry
TMJ
Child's
First Visit |
Your
Child's First Dental Visit
We all want your child's' first dental visit to be
a good experience for them. First if you have dental anxieties then
you are not the best person to be discussing a child's first appointment
with them or taking them to their appointment. Young children are
very perceptive, they will pickup on your anxiety (no matter how
hard you try to hide it) and become scared. This is the reason dental
offices have a policy of not letting parents be with their children
while the office is caring for thier child's needs.. Exceptions
are made to this policy depending on a child's special needs. Even
parents without any dental anxieties can become nervous about how
their child will react and cause their child to have a bad first
experience. Your child is being cared for by an experienced and
highly trained dental staff, trust them, yours is not the only child
they provide care for. They will come and get you if they feel they
need your assistance with your child. I have seen children smile
and talk with the dentist and staff during their treatment, only
to go in the waiting room, see the look of anxiety on mom or dad's
face and start crying. We have one child that does this at every
visit. He has learned that if he cries after a visit, in front of
mom, he will get a special treat (candy, ice cream, toy) for being
such a brave little boy.
What is safe to tell your child about their first
dental visit? As little as possible. The truth is you really do
not know exactly what is going to happen at first visit and so how
can you describe it to them? Also you may describe things using
terms that seem harmless based on your experience but scare a child.
For example, using the term scrapping when describing the cleaning
of teeth. To a child that associates scrapping with getting to clean
out the frosting bowl when mom makes a cake, this is a good term.
To an accident prone child, that is always falling down and scrapping
parts of their body sore, this is a bad term. The dentist and dental
staff will explain to your child everything they are going to do
before they do it. If you have already tried to describe what will
happen, when things are described differently during their visit
it will only confuse them and cause them to become scared. Young
children react badly to finding out mom or dad was wrong or have
not told them the complete truth. Answer all your child's questions
honestly and as briefly as possible. It is ok to say you don't know
the answer, and they should ask the dentist during their visit.
There are several good children's books which tell
the story of a first visit to the dentist, (Bearenstein Bears, Arthur).
These are good stories to read in a casual manner, as if a dental
visit is as normal as grocery shopping.
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