Ten Ways to Prepare Your Child: A Great Pediatric Dental Visit
Celebrate this milestone with your child – remind your child that going to the dentist is an exciting part of growing up, and that he/she gets to go on a “big kid” adventure.
Tell your child about all the new friends you are going to meet at the dentist. The dental assistant will help make his/her teeth extra clean and the dentist will count them all and check for sugar bugs.
Speak positively about the dentist. Even if you don’t always love dental visits yourself, it is important to allow your child to create his/her own experience. Your comfort with the dentist will give her/him space to be comfortable, too.
Let your child know that his/her favorite doll or stuffed animal is going to the dentist, too. Your child can help get them ready for the appointment, and we can use her/his toy as a way to introduce your child to the tools we use.
Talk to your child about all the silly words we use at the dentist – things like the magic chair, the tooth tickler, Mr. Thirsty, the fire hose, the giant flashlight, and tooth sparkles.
Let your child know that at the end of the visit, he/she will get to pick a special prize from the prize store as well as stickers for being extra brave and cavity free. We love positive reinforcement around here.
Pretend play at home before coming in. You can practice counting teeth together, use a flashlight to look in each other’s mouths, use a spinbrush on a doll or stuffed animal, and take tooth pictures with your phone.
Turn on that iPad or head to the library. There are lots of great videos that you can watch online together about what happens at the dentist, as well as some great books about going to the dentist.
Schedule early in the day, and be aware of nap times. Young children do much better in the morning than in the afternoon.
Schedule with a pediatric dentist – this means your child’s visit will be in a kid-focused environment made just for her/him.
Five Ways to Prepare Your Child: A Great Treatment Visit
Try to avoid all scary words. We don’t say things like “shot” or “drill” in our office. In general, less is more when talking to your child about their visit. Dentists and assistants are trained in how to walk your child through the visit step by step. Try to have them save their questions for us so that we can talk with them about it in a way that is catered to their age and personality.
Schedule these visits early in the day, and when they can get a good night’s sleep the night before. This helps so much with kiddos so that they aren’t tired or anxious throughout the day before their visit.
Please leave siblings at home. We cannot have any siblings in the treatment room, and can only have one parent in the treatment room. It is so important to establish a direct line of trust between your child and the dentist, and limiting support in the treatment room to one parent only helps with this. While in the room with us, please try to be a secondary support as much as possible so that your child can focus primarily on our instructions for a safe, happy visit.
Ask your child to bring a comfort item with them. These are so helpful! We also have lots of stuff to help, like weighted blankets, weighted animals, giant pop its, headphones, & overhead movies.
Give your child a light meal only before the visit. Nothing too heavy. Your child will be numb for about an hour after the visit, and should try to refrain from eating or drinking until they are no longer number so that they do not bite their lip or cheek. These lip or cheek bites can be very severe while they are still numb.
