| Your Child's First Dentist Visit - What you need to know Guilderland |
Your Child's First Dentist Visit - What You Need to Know
Your child’s first dentist visit is a huge event. It is an important event for both the parent and the child. But, most of the time parents tend to misread the situation and think that a dentist visit for a child would be a painful and scary experience. It is not so. Since this is the first visit, a child may think of it as a visit to an amusement park (because of the dentist’s examination chair). Hence, as a parent if you have any negative fears of a dentist, keep it to yourself, since your toddler has a total positive picture of a dentist.
In addition to having such a positive mindset, there are certain other things that you should do at the time of your child’s first dentist visit. Such aspects are discussed below.
When exactly should I take my child to the dentist first?
Many specialists in the pediatric dentistry field advices parents to take their children for their first dentist visit by six months of the first tooth or when the child turns 1 year old. But, if you can detect some discoloring in your child’s teeth, it will be best to take your child to the dentist as soon as possible.
How can I choose a good dentist?
Like all the other things, even when parents are picking a dentist for their little one, they apparently choose the one that they go to. Most times, this is the best way to go since you will have experiences with him and you trust him with your child. But make sure that your Doctor has experience handling children. If not, you can obviously choose a good pediatric dentist since they specialize in children. The other upside to choosing a pediatric dentist is that he will have his clinic designed to be children friendly so that your toddler may not feel out of place or bored.
What will happen during the visit?
Since this is the first visit of your little one to the dentist, it will be a very short and informal one. Basically, during this visit, the emphasis will go towards the meeting of your little one with the Dentist. Once the introduction formalities are done, the doctor will either ask you to stay inside to hold your child while he checks inside the mouth or he and the staff will handle it on their own.
Inside your little one’s mouth, the doctor will check for possible signs of decay and he will also check the jaw, bite and the gums. There’s a likelihood of the dentist applying some fluoride preparation on your child’s teeth if there are spots or signs of proneness to decay.
How often should I take my child to the dentist?
According to the status of your little one’s teeth, the dentist will advice you on the frequency of your visits. Most pediatric dentists will want you to bring your child to him every six months given that there are no additional problems.
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