The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends
that your child should visit the dentist by their first birthday.
The "age one, well baby" visit is one of the most important preventive
services we can provide.
Early childhood cavities, sometimes referred to as baby bottle cavities
are PREVENTABLE.
What to expect at the Age One Dental Visit:
-Your infant's teeth and gums will be gently examined.
-You will be shown simple but effective ways to clean your child'd
teeth.
-Diet and nutrition, as related to tooth decay, will be discussed with
you.
-Other preventive measures such as the application of fluoride, either
applied directly to the teeth or as a supplement to your child's diet
will be thoroughly explained to you.
-Future appointments will be made depending upon the results of our
findings.
Working together as team, we are confident that the majority of dental
problems can be prevented.
YOUR CHILD'S FIRST HYGIENE APPOINTMENT
When your child becomes three years of age, we recommend they have their
first visit with the dental hygienist. This visit has two goals.
First, to gently introduce your child to the dental experience and
second, to begin in office preventive procedures.
Our staff has over 70 years of combined experience in treating children
and will make their initial visit comfortable, easy and even fun.
We use a "show and tell" technique to help your child understand what is
happening. The children can see, touch and play with everything they
will be shown. Age appropriate words are used. For example, a saliva
ejector is called "Mr. Thirsty" because it drinks water from your mouth;
an x ray machine is a camera because it takkes pictures of your teeth.
A dental instrument is touched on a fingernail before it is touched on
a tooth.
Each new step is gently introduced and positively reinforced by our
staff.
At this visit, we want to examine your child's teeth and gums, clean
their teeth, apply topical fluoride and take appropriate xrays. What is
actually accomplished depends upon the ease in which your child adapts
to this new experience.
The first visit can often be anxiety producing for a young child.
Parents are expected to accompany their children. It is not unusual for
this age to not want to cooperate initially and crying and refusal to
sit in the dental chair is common. Please don't be surprised if this
occurs. Allow my staff time to "win" your child over. Children take
great pride in overcoming their fears and leave feeling very good about
themselves and what they have accommplished.
