Children and Dentists: A Positive Experience

As a guardian or parent, you work hard to protect your children from the moment they are born.  You erect baby gates, cover electrical plugs, and cushion their clumsy falls as they begin to walk.  It’s intuition to want to see that they are safe.  To some parents this means hovering over all that they do as they explore.  To others, the approach is more of a ‘learn the hard way.’  Neither way is wrong.  It amounts to what you believe is best for your child.  That same drive to protect is one that carries over to your trip to our San Mateo dentist office.

Young children look to cues from you to determine how to read the situation.  By starting a visit off with a negative tone, your child becomes afraid of the dentist.  You may not be a fan of dental appointments, but for their first years of visits, keep this opinion to yourself.  After all, whatever they learn now, will stay with them the rest of their lives.  So let’s take a look at how to turn your munchkins San Mateo dentist visit in to a positive experience.

The Earlier the Better

Set up your first San Mateo dentist appointment within the first year of your child’s life.  Typically, once the first tooth comes in, your dentist will want to see you.  These early visits are a way to begin acclimating children to the office.  We make the visit fun and children love to explore our office.  We’ll give your child a quick chair ride and maybe sing a song or two.

Keep the Visit Upbeat

On your way to your San Mateo dentist appointment, watch how you phrase things.  Kids may misunderstand your meaning when you say, “this won’t hurt.”  True, it won’t hurt, but children may see it as an opening, that it might hurt.  Additionally, should they need a tooth pulled or a cavity filled down the road; they may think you’ve lied to them.  We practice painless dentistry and do everything we can to make each and every visit pain free.

Use, instead, positive phrases that keep each visit upbeat.  You could say, ‘the dentist needs to count your teeth,’ or ‘let’s go get your handsome/pretty smile checked.’  The goal is to create a positive experience for your young child.

Children are naturally curious and look to you for support and answers.  You can find topics on pediatric dentistry on our Facebook page or call our office with any questions.  We want your child to understand the importance of oral care and to love caring for their teeth.  With the right words and actions, you can easily build a strong, healthy relationship between your San Mateo dentist and your young children.