How To Successfully Prepare for Your Child's First Dental Visit

[maxcanine]

There is a new book that was recently published "How to Successfully Prepare for your Child's First Dental Visit". This book contains great information for parents. It discusses things like: the importance of the first visit, when you should take your child for the first visit, the type of dentist your child should see, how do you choose the right dentist, and several other topics.( It also has some great art work that was drawn by children). This book was written by a pediatric dentist. It is available at Amazon and also firstdentalvisit.com


Sincerely,
Max

 

[brit]

Thanks. There are already lots of books on the UK market aimed at the younger child's first time visit.
If this book is aimed more at parents than the children themselves, then this kind of info is available in various free health leaflets all over Europe. In the UK and Europe most children would see General Dentists not pediatric dentists and i.m.v. this tends to protect them from 'overtreatment.'

There is also a school of thought which I share that 'less is more' where preparation for the first dental visit is concerned and indeed if you have taken your younger child along with you, chances are they will not find it too daunting. The most they need to know is that a dentist is a 'nice and special doctor who helps you keep your teeth healthy.'

The main thing you owe to your child is to find them a dentist with painfree techniques and a good chairside manner...that makes everything else relatively easy, whether treatment is required or not.

 

[maxcanine]

Brit,

Thanks for the information. I guess, I was not aware that this is mainly a British website only. As for information that this book supplies I believe that it still might provide some great helpful information for UK parents. Parents would just have to realize that your system is different than the US and Canadian systems. That being said, people are still people and your first dental visit is still your first dental visit. I am convinced that proper preparation (not over preparation) for the first dental visit is extremely important and often neglected. Maybe, if people everywhere prepare properly for the first dental visit then websites like DENTAL FEAR CENTRAL would not be as necessary. This is only a thought, but wouldn't that be wonderful.
Brit, I would like to comment on the statements " In the UK and Europe most children see general dentists not pediatric dentists and i.m.v. this tends to protect from overtreatment", and on the idea that simply finding a dentist with "pain free technique and good chairside manner is sufficient.

The statement, that children in the UK and Europe see general dentists mainly is a fact. The idea though that this protects them from over treatment is only an opinion. Children greatly benefit from specialized evaluation and care. We should not underestimate the importance of giving our children the best chance possible to not have dental fear.

Finally, the idea of simply finding a dentist with pain free technique and good chairside manner is over-simplified. This is what people have been saying for years, but we still have problems and people are still afraid. People need to prepare properly for their child's first dental visit. Start early and start right. Make sure that you as parents are educated and do your job properly at home. Learn as much as you can about prevention so that difficult complex treatment is never necessary. If you learn these things early and you are diligent, you can make a world of difference for your child. Best wishes to everyone.

Sincerely,
Max

 

[brit]

Fair comment. I am not saying there shouldn't be a message of prevention you are completely right about that....just that, saying too much to a child is counterproductive...better to go with the flow at the right practice, whether a pediatric dentist or a general dentist who the parent personally already knows, likes and trusts.

This website serves the whole English-speaking world but is UK based - we discuss lots of different systems though and it is amazing how they differ.
UK/Europe/Australasia generally works the old-fashioned way with the patient getting the dentists's full attention from start to finish during the appointment i.e. support staff do not directly provide the patient's care with the exception of a hygienist. We discuss around all the systems and posters are from all over including non-English-speaking countries.

I am not anti-pediatric dentistry...my own child received very good care from a pediatric specialist in an EU country (not UK)....he was the choice because I knew he would intervene but would do so painlessly which he did but just with TLC and local anaeasthetic. I was present. In another country my kids now see an excellent General dentist.

Obviously 'the best dentistry is no dentistry' but even a child with good care from birth may need extractions prior to orthodontic treatment, so a relationship of trust built up with a practitioner over the years who has a painfree technique will usually make that experience tolerable rather than phobia-inducing.
And then there's always 'wisdom teeth' to put people off dentistry, just at the time when they leave home and parental influence!
There probably aren't enough dentists out there of any kind, offering truly painfree dentistry with just TLC and local anaesthetic...by which I mean striving to deliver the local anaeasthetic comfortably as well (and some other factors such as a caring unrushed approach).....if all dentists did do this..there would undoubtedly be fewer people avoiding care for reasons of fear of pain; and fewer would demand to be sedated.
There would still be phobics for all the other myriad of reasons....but the general anxiety level in the population would likely decrease especially if coupled with giving the patient more control and a more pleasant relaxing (distraction) environment..you have to pay extra for the latter usually.

At the end of the day it is a dentist's personality which plays a role..in how kind, caring and interested they come over as to the child or adult...this coupled with the right techniques is what really matters rather than whether a dentist is a pediatric specialist or not.
There will always be different treatment philosophies with kids though especially for baby teeth...do you treat, do you just watch and wait....? If your child has something unusual going on or is especially afraid for some reason then it would be sensible to seek specialist pediatric care, even in a country where pediatric dentists are few and far between.

NB In some European countries access to a pediatric dental specialist is generally, although not always, via referral from a medical doctor or general dentist. In Australasia the school dental service employs dental therapists more than dentists, to provide free dental checks and some care, to school age kids..in this situation if you want more control over who they see and the type of treatment, you could opt to have your children see your own General Dentist instead if finances allow.
As I understand it, in the USA, it is much more common to simply use a pediatric dentist for your kids from the start and a General Dentist for the adults, since there is no shortage of pediatric dentists.

Max,
Please feel free to answer questions on the website especially from the pediatric dentist's perspective, if you are the book's author...or from your personal perspective if not.
Cheers

 

[maxcanine]

Brit,

Hope you are having a nice day. If there is anything I can do to help any of you with pediatric dentistry/surgery let me know. I have a bit of experience in this field and would enjoy helping.

Sincerely,

Max

 

[brit]

Thanks Max
I'm going to be offline for most of July so if you do pop in to DFC on your daily travels, feel free to chip in in this section especially....it is not as active as the adult section though. We have only recently separated out the pediatric and adult dental questions.

As you can probably see, we are trying to provide advice which can avoid dental fear arising in the first place in kids and especially the kids of (ex-)phobics...and we tend to favour a preventitive/TLC with local anaesthetic approach which I understand is in line with current UK Pediatric dentistry thinking.
In most cases, having found their ideal dentist, ex-phobic parents would tend seek care for their kids at the same practice unless there were financial reasons preventing this.
Cheers
Brit