Easing Your Child into Their First Dental Check-Up

Getting your child to cooperate with any new experience can be a tricky task, so a trip to a dentist's office filled with whirring electrical tools, needles, and strangers is often problematic for parents. The good news is that you are not alone. All parents struggle to get their kids to the dental office peacefully. You can be sure that your child's outburst is not the first tempter-tantrum that your dentist has seen. 

Many parents wonder about the best way to prepare their child for their first trip to the dentist, and sometimes turn to sugary bribes or outright lies to get them in the chair without any fuss. Read on for some healthy and helpful hints about the best ways to prepare your child for their first dental check-up.

Start early!

It is extremely important to get your child into the dentist's office as early as possible. Most professionals recommend doing so no later than age 1, or at the emergence of your child's first tooth.

By getting your child into the office early in life, you are building a positive association as the foundation of their understanding of the dentist's. This means that your child will be more comfortable as procedures intensifying, and that their peers' horror stories and phobias will have no effect.

Keep your talks simple and honest.

It is important to discuss what to expect prior to your child's first visit, and to set their expectations in a healthy and positive way. Going into gruesome detail about cavity procedures is obviously a mistake, but lying about the experience can be even more damaging. Lying to your child causes a loss of trust in you and in their dentist, allowing future anxieties to multiply with little hope of reassurance. Stay positive with your child, and make uplifting vocabulary choices, framing the visit to the dentist as a way to get "strong, healthy, and good-looking teeth."

Introduce the dentist through play.

Preparing your child for their trip to the dentists can be as fun as you want to make it. A variety of picture books are available involving some of your child's favourite TV characters, and these are all excellent options for introducing dentistry in a fun way. Playing dentist with your child is also a great way to build a positive association with their upcoming check-up. This can involve role-playing, holding a mirror up to check their smile, and reviewing brushing technique.

You can read more about kid's dentistry here.