Regular dental checkups are important, but it can be easy to want to skip a visit when your child is afraid of the dentist. To ease their distress (and yours!), try these tips:
Start young. The earlier your child visits us—the better! We recommend making an appointment around the age of 1, or when the first tooth erupts. Familiarizing them with us (and the great time they’ll have) will get them used to visiting and even make dental checkups fun!
Let them learn from you. Make sure you don’t talk about your bad experiences around your child as they are often afraid of things that make their parents nervous. Children can pick up on your anxieties, so call us beforehand if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s visit.
Watch your words. Stay away from words that will frighten your child like “shot, hurt, or pain.” Instead, say positive words and phrases like “strong, clean, and healthy.”
Make it fun! Play games pretending to be dentists so they know what to expect. Take turns pretending to be the dentist by brushing and counting teeth like we’ll do!
Bring some comfort. Let them pick out their favorite comfort item to bring along. They may not need to hold it the whole time, but they’ll feel a lot better knowing it’s around.
It starts at home. Last, but definitely not least—make sure you’re teaching your child good oral health habits at home! Your child will be happier here if they don’t always need work done. We will make every experience as positive as possible, but if your child always comes to us needing work done, they’ll only think of us as the bad guys!
Give us a call today to schedule your child’s next appointment, and if you need any information on good oral health care for children, don’t hesitate to ask!
Posted by mfreiss on Aug 12, 2015 8:00 am Filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
