How To Prepare Your Child For A Dental Visit

A visit to the dentist often makes children nervous. It is completely normal for a child to be scared of going for a dental cleaning or other dental treatments. There are some things you can do ahead of the dental visit to help you get your child to have a better experience. Here are a few things you may want to try:

Meet the Dentist Before the First Treatment

If this is your child's first visit to a dentist, take them in to meet the dentist before any type of work is done on their mouth. This allows your child to get to know the dentist without having to experience anything they may perceive as negative or scary. Meeting the dentist can help your child understand the dentist is nice, friendly, and will not hurt them.

Be As Positive as Possible

When you talk about going to the dentist, try to use only positive words around your child. Not only should you avoid any negative words regarding the dentist, but also be careful about the words you use when referring to different aspects of a dental visit. For example, try not to use the word "shot" or "drill" when you talk about some of the different things the dentist does to fix teeth. You can simply tell your child the dentist is cleaning up the "cavity bugs" or something they will better understand. Using the actual wording for some dental treatments can scare children.

Provide Positive Reinforcement

When in doubt, always try to implement positive reinforcement when it comes to getting your child to go to the dentist. If your child has a dental visit coming up and you know they will be afraid, try to build in some fun into the day to help them have something positive to look forward to. After the appointment, take your child to a movie or the playground. This will help your child not dread the day as much. As your child gets older, you can begin to scale back the positive reinforcement if necessary.

Getting your child ready for their dental visit is going to help them better understand why they need to go to the dentist. When in doubt, simply tell your child why they need to go to the dentist in a way they will best understand. Children need to understand the consequences that come with not going to the dentist. Do not scare them but explain to them why going to a children's dentist will keep them nice and healthy.