I often see children in my practice whose first trip to the dentist is for pain or for the doctor to confirm the parent’s suspected fear that their child has a cavity. Do not wait until your child has a problem to bring them to the dentist! We are not the grocery store where you go when you are hungry. Too many parents, children, and families wait until there is something wrong before they come see me. They wait until they are in pain before they go to the dentist.
I am a very entertaining individual and I promise if you take the time to come for a routine appointment before pain happens, things will go much smoother.
There most definitely will be less anxiety because you have eliminated the fear of the unknown. The people, sights, smells, music, and ambient noise are all familiar and associated with low stress visits. If you visit somewhere for the first time and it is a very anxious, horrible trip, then you don’t want to experience again. This is especially true for kids. Young children look to their parents to figure out how to feel about an event or situation. If the parent has anxiety, the child will feel this and the uneasy feelings will be transferred. The situation is ten-fold then the child already is in pain.
60% of adults are fearful of the dentist and too many times I hear the reason is a poor childhood experience. Once this happens, it is so hard not to go back to that bad place in your head every time you see or even think of the dentist. If we can guarantee kids have a good experience and continue to treat them with respect, then we can prevent them from having these ill feelings about the dentist. Kids are not “little adults”. They are their own subset and need to be treated with a mindset that is calm, patient and ready to answer a barrage of questions. I have had many appointments where we did nothing but answer questions to make sure our child patient was comfortable before proceeding. And this is ok.
We love our children beyond any description possible so why put them through all this?
First trip to the dentist should be with the eruption of first tooth. This is can be anywhere from 6 -16 months or even longer. The first trip is a quick meet the dentist, show them around, take a ride on the chair and pick out some awesome prizes. I always say it is just like Disneyland without the animal costumes…but who knows. My 16 month old daughter is quiet infatuated with Minnie and Mickey and it may not be long before those mice make an office appearance for Halloween. Don’t think it would happen? If you don’t come see us, you won’t find out.
Call to find out what the fun is about at 949-396-3803.
We look forward to meeting the little munchkins soon!