Prepare your kid for the first Dental Visit

Dr. Dhara Patel
June 9, 2020

“I hate to see dentist” or “I don’t like dentists” – these are common expressions we see often from our adult patients. Most of the time these expressions & feelings are because of their first dental experience either in childhood or adulthood. Our mission is to change this negative perception for the next generation and make their dental experiences more joyful for their life.

What is the right time for the first visit?

As soon as a kid turns one or their first baby tooth become visible, it’s time to mark the first dental visit. Well, if you feel anything abnormal before this, you should make an appointment for a safeguard.

What to expect in the First Dental Visit?

The first visit may not necessarily end o

What we do to make your Kid’s first visit memorable?

Our lovely staff is trained well to look after kids and we normally start with friendly conversation to know them and establish trust in reception area.

We count their fingers, ears, eyes, teeth, tongue and everything possible to get them involved during the exam process. Their siblings would be a great help here and most of time that works well for us. We have a magic chair which turns into a bed and have TV on the celling to distract them. We don’t ming rhymes and fun cartoons while working n their teeth. Most of our lovely patients get chance to learn the magic tricks of the chair. Our chair has a special air and water gun which tickles teeth, vacuum to suck the spit from them mouth and it loves the tongue, special electric brush to clean the teeth, and the small drill to chase the germs out of the tooth. Sometimes we have to take the X-ray of the tooth and we love to use them to teach them the secrets of tooth.

Yes, we do put on our mask and gloves but that to protect them from germs on our hands and nose.

At the end, it normally ends with some stickers and fun stuff.

How can you prepare your kid for their first visit?

  1. Be prepared: Gain understanding about the first visit from our staff while making the appointment. B
  3. Talk to our lovely staff about the first appointment and explain it to your kid what to expect before coming to the clinic. Once kid gets information from you, he/she would be bit prepared.
  4. Painless visit: There is nothing that we can do with out inflicting pain when you are already in pain. So we prefer to see kids for their first check up when they are not in pain. Ideally we can see kids since they get their first teeth. During the initial years of life, we may not do much treatment wise but we can certainly motivate them to improve their hygiene, help them and parents to learn the right ways to brush teeth and use right products for kids.
  5. Avoid sharing your bad experience at dentist with kids: Kids would remember it for long time. Even though, we try our best to be friendly with your kid, your bad experience would sometime hinders our efforts.
  6. Bring a friend: Who does not like to have soft toy to cuddle when you are bit stressed or uncomfortable? Their favourite toys help them as well as us to start the conversation.

What do we do:

Our lovely staff is trained well to look after kids and we normally start with friendly conversation to know them and establish trust in reception area.

What does visit involve:

We try our best to make it as playful and relaxing as possible.

THE 5 DON’TS OF DENTAL VISITS

  1. Don’t tell your child to be brave (they already are).
  2. Don’t bribe your child.
  3. Don’t tell your child that it won’t hurt (or it will).
  4. Don’t use the dentist as a deterrent or punishment.
  5. Don’t show your anxious side. Your calmness is most important.