How To Handle Your Child‘s First Dental Visit?

How To Handle Your Child‘s First Dental Visit? Are you worrying?

First dental visit has a deep impact on children’s dental health, positive experiences of first dental visits, motivate children to maintain good oral hygiene and visit a dentist regularly. NHS dentist London plays an important role in children’s dental care, they guide parents to control children’s anxiety and educate kids in pleasing environments about the importance of good oral hygiene.

 

How To Handle Your Child‘s First Dental Visit?

 

How Can Parents Prepare Children Before Their First Dental Appointment?

Children’s first dental visit is not an easy task for parents, they must prepare them to avoid negative experiences of their first dental visits because it impacts their dental health lifetime. Parents should smartly make up their children’s minds and prepare them in the following ways.

Schedule Early Age Appointment

Parents should plan the child’s first visit as soon as possible when the first teeth erupt in the mouth, like 6 to 8 months, it makes children familiar with the dentist and dental office environment from the initial stage and helps in early diagnosis of dental problems that avoid painful treatment.

Explain to Children the Importance of Dental Care

Parents should guide children about dental care’s importance like how poor hygiene and escaping regular dental visits can affect our dental function and aesthetics. The professional dentist London and staff can help them in resolving their dental problems to restore their beautiful smile.

Appropriate Appointment Timing

Parents should select an appointment time according to their children’s nape, relaxation and fresh mood timing. Children should complete their sleeping cycle before dental visits, lack of sleep can develop irritability in children that affects their dental visits.

Comfort Child with Role Play Game

Children are anxious and curious about first dental visits, so parents can play a dentist role-play game with their kids to explain how dentists perform a simple dental check-up, and how to open a wide mouth during clinical examination. Parents can also use dental toy instruments to resolve instrument fear in children and explain to them how to properly clean their teeth to avoid germs and tooth decay, it is an easier way for children behavioural learn to maintain good oral hygiene and regular dental visits.

Explain Dental Procedures

Show videos and cartoons of their favourite cartoon characters in which they attended their dental visits; in this way, they can easily relate to the situation and stay calm during dental visits. With the help of videos and books, parents can explain dental procedures in easily understandable language.

Set Realistic Expectations

It is very crucial to start first dental visits with simple clinical procedures like clinical examination, and fluoride application to avoid negative experiences and dental instruments fear. Dentists avoid dental X-rays, scaling and extraction and complex dental procedures unless it is important because they create fear in children, and they do not support dentists in further procedures.

How Can Parents Control Children’s Dental Anxiety In First Dental Visits?

Dental treatment anxiety creates complications for both the patient and the dentist. If dental treatment anxiety develops at the first dental visit of the children it affects their dental health later in whole life, parents should take the following measures to avoid dental treatment anxiety.

Relax Children Before the Visit

Explain to children that the dentist performs simple procedures to remove dental problems and improve your smile, it does not harm you. Also, explain to the children the treatment is under your control, if you feel pain during the procedure; the dentist can stop the procedure on your stopping signal.

Avoid Negative Terminology

Negative terminology such as needle, and pain can develop fear in children, avoid these words during explaining the treatment and use age-appropriate language to avoid fear and anxiety in children.

Distractive Technique

Always keep children’s favourite books, toys or headphones to enjoy music for distraction during waiting time. Distractive techniques relax children, control dental instruments and produce fear while they waiting for their turn.

Relaxing Exercise and Meditation

Deep breathing exercises and meditation practice before dental visits control dental anxiety in children, it increases oxygen supply to the brain and reduces cortisol hormonal levels in the body. You could also try sharing some short growth mindset quotes.

Chose Paediatric Dentist

For a kid’s first dental visit always choose a paediatric dentist, they are trained to manage children’s dental anxiety with different techniques such as behaviour techniques and nitrous oxide sedation.

Praise and Reward Calm

Positive behaviour reinforcement plays an important role in controlling children’s dental anxiety, praising them for their good behaviour, or rewarding any certificate on successful completion of their first dental visits, motivates them to maintain good oral hygiene and dental visits regularly.  Encourages children by celebrating as a milestone achievement on their first dental visits or brushing their teeth with an electric or manual toothbrush without assistance.

Stay with Your Children

Children remain calm and positive while staying with their parents during dental procedures. Parents can avoid panic and keep children relaxed during dental treatment.

Behaviour Remodelling

Parents should stay positive, and calm and regularly attend their regular dental visits, it is best for the behaviour remodelling of the children and teaches them about the importance of dental care by maintaining dental visits properly. Children often mimic adult behaviour parents can utilise this technique in preparing children for their first dental visits.

Familiar with Environment

Before a dental treatment visit, parents should plan a treatment-free dental clinic visit for children, so they get familiar with the dental office environment and the treatment room to develop a friendly relationship with the dentist and dental staff.

Professional Help

In case of severe dental treatment anxiety in children, parents should consult with a psychologist for professional behaviour management. Psychologists used different techniques as congenital behaviour therapy and medication to prepare children for their first dental treatment.

Conclusion

Children’s first dental visits sometimes become challenging for parents, and dental instruments, and procedures develop anxiety and fear in children. Before dental visits, parents should take appropriate steps to prepare children for their dental treatment such as early age appointments, explaining dental treatment with the help of role-play games, selecting appointment time according to children’s nap, and performing deep breathing exercises to control dental treatment anxiety in children.

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