Tips for Preparing Your Child for Their First Dental Visit from a Pediatric Dentist in Palmdale

Eventually, your child will need to make their first visit to a dentist for a cleaning and checkup. What happens when a child grows old enough to worry about things like dental cleanings? They may be worried or even a bit scared. This anxiety can make a visit to the dentist more difficult for you and your child than it needs to be. However, parents can take some relatively simple, even fun, steps to make their child’s first cleaning and checkup more pleasant. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recommends that your child’s first dental visit take place soon after their first tooth appears or no later than their first birthday. That first visit and one or two more should be relatively smooth. Early dental checkups with a kid dentist in Palmdale are important, to both detect problems and create good oral hygiene habits. Teaching your kids to take great care of their teeth and gums now will save time and stress in adulthood.

First Dental Visits

If you are a parent, your own first visits to the dentist are probably far in the past. You almost certainly don’t remember your first visit as a baby, when the dentist inspected your gums, your first baby tooth, and so on. You may not remember having your bite checked out either. If you remember details from your first post-infant visit, then you can use that experience to help your child prepare for their visit to a pediatric dentist.. Follow these tips from a pediatric dentist in Palmdale to make your child’s first visit much easier.

Talk About Your Own First Experience

How many parents remember their first visit to the dentist? Talking about this experience in a positive way can help your child to understand what’s about to happen and feel a little more relaxed about it. If you were nervous, it’s okay to mention that to your child, just be sure to always speak about your experience in a positive light- Make sure they know that dental visits are important to the health of their teeth and gums and helps you have a beautiful smile. You’ll have to determine a good tone and voice based on the age of your child and their understanding of the dentist. 

Tell Them the Day of the Visit

Another good way to prepare a child for the dentist is to tell them the day of their visit; You can even present it as a surprise visit. Kids love surprises and this approach will help kids associate the positive factors of surprises with trips to the dentist. 

Go to a Pediatric Dentist

The best person to see is someone with specific training in how to work with children. These specialists are trained to work on small teeth in small mouths. Pediatric dentists also learn about child psychology, so they know how to help their young patients feel more at ease during their first cleaning and checkup. Therefore, when you see a pediatric dentist in Palmdale or Lancaster you will be getting care tailored to a child’s needs.

Smile Dental also offers general dentistry for adults. We can take care of the entire family and their full range of dental needs.

Watch Books or Videos

Several kids books deal with a child’s first visit to the dentist. Some of those books feature famous characters, like Elmo, Peppa the Pig, Dora the Explorer, and the Berenstain Bears. Reading these books with your child helps them understand and expect a positive experience. Cartoon videos that deal with a first visit to the dentist can also help. Sesame Street has a first visit to the dentist video on YouTube, where you can find other videos on that same topic

Play Dentist

You can pretend to inspect and brush your child’s teeth. Don’t forget to talk about what you are doing and why. You can let them pretend to do the same with your teeth. Your child can also play dentist by working on a stuffed animal’s mouth. These little games make the process less mysterious, and less potentially scary. Doing those things is better than just talking about them because children can’t always picture things just from a verbal description of what happens.

Let Them Bring a Friend

A favorite stuffed animal or toy will help your child be a little more relaxed. Some dentists’ offices even have stuffed animals that children can take into the treatment rooms. This is just one of the ways you can make that visit to a kid dentist in Palmdale a little less stressful.

Use Positive Reinforcement

Let them know that being nervous is completely normal. Praise them for being brave, following instructions at the office, and taking care of their mouths. Focus on the good parts of the visit and reward them for being a big kid. Sometimes you have to put yourself in their shoes and remember how you felt nervous as a child going to the dentist and provide the comfort and praise they need to be excited about their next visit. 

Childhood Dental Visits Don’t Have to be Scary

To make things a little bit easier, you can even complete patient forms for your child online or download and print them at home. Your child’s first visit, after they get old enough to get nervous about the dentist, can be stressful. However, you can make the process much easier for your child by taking a few of the steps outlined in this article. The most important thing you can do is to have a kid dentist in Palmdale or Lancaster see your child. Contact us to see a pediatric dentist in Palmdale or Lancaster.