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Children
First visit
A child's first visit to the
dentist is an important milestone. Just as your child sees their
paediatrician for "Well baby checks" so should they see the dentist
for evaluation of growth of their jaws, face and teeth starting at age one.
Studies show that about 20% of 18 month olds have decay. If this decay is
caught early it is much easier to repair and avoids pain for your child. If a
small cavity is found early it can be repaired easily.
Start out by being excited with your child about their first dental visit as
a sign of growing up. If you have fears of dentistry do not share them with
your child either by talking negatively about dental experiences or
overcompensating by reassuring too much that "everything will be OK.
This makes them think, “Why all the reassurance? This must be really
bad!”
Don't make promises about what is going to happen other than to say that the
dentist will look at your teeth and count them. Do not promise trips to
McDonalds, Toys R us, or others rewards as this causes children to say to
themselves, " This must be pretty bad if I get a reward like
that.” We will reward your child and you can encourage the child to be
proud of themselves for doing such a grown up thing as to take care of
themselves. If you choose to give a reward, make it a surprise afterward.
In this practice, we are
specially trained to use a technique called "Tell-Show-Do".
Tell
First, we explain to the child what we are about to do. We ask them simple
questions that keep your children assured that our procedures will not hurt
them in anyway.
Show
next, we show the child how we are going to proceed by using models and
actual tools we use during their procedure.
Do
finally, we proceed exactly as we described earlier. We always ask
your children how they are doing and are aware if they are uncomfortable
during their dental procedure. Good behavior is backed up by positive
reinforcement. Too much information before the appointment can conflict with
the Tell-Show-Do method, confusing the child. Please contact our office so that
we can be of more assistance. Our goal is to provide the best dental
care for your children with any discomfort.
We will explain everything
that we are doing to decrease children's anxiety. Younger children, however,
will still be likely to cry or seem upset by a simple tooth cleaning. Do not
let this worry you. It simply means that they are not yet comfortable with
their new role as a patient. This will develop with time and repeated visits.
Children sort out their feelings through play. Don't be surprised if before
or after their visit they "Play dentist" for a while. This is
healthy and you might want to join them in playing. This will show your
support.
DENTAL PLAN FOR YOUR CHILD
We offer a fully comprehensive dental cover for
children which 90% of our already existing
children patients utilitize.
Click
here for more information!
FREE FLUORIDE TREATMENT FOR CHILDREN
Preventing Cavities
When all of your child's
primary teeth have come in (usually around age 2½) we will start applying
topical fluoride. Fluoride hardens the tooth enamel, helping to ward
off the most common childhood oral disease, dental caries, or cavities. Cavities
are caused by bacteria and food that are left on the teeth after eating. When
these are not brushed away, acid collects on a tooth, softening its enamel
until a hole — or cavity — forms. Regular use of fluoride
toughens the enamel, making it more difficult for acid to penetrate.
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