fitting family dental visits into a crazy schedule

Helping Your Child Feel More Comfortable Going To The Dentist: Tips For You

by Andre Daniels

When it comes time to take your child to the dentist, you may find it difficult to convince them that going to see a children's dental care specialist is not in any way scary or something to be worried about. Many children have fear-based reactions to going to the dentist for a wide variety of reasons. As a parent, however, you want to do everything you can to help them have a more positive association with going to the dentist so that your children have lifelong, healthy oral care habits. Get to know some of the ways that you can help your child feel more comfortable going to the dentist so that you and your child can have an easier time on their next visit to the dentist.

Get Them A Coloring Book And Children's Books About Going To The Dentist

One of the ways that you can help your child to get more comfortable going to the dentist is to get them a coloring book and/or children's books about going to the dentist. This will help them to have more fun with the concept of going to the dentist.

For younger children, the coloring book activities can help them to see what exactly goes on at the dentist's office and associate it with a fun activity. The children's books can further reinforce those positive associations and make your child see going to the dentist as something normal and routine rather than unfamiliar and frightening.

If It Is Their First Trip Or A New Type Of Appointment, Take Them For A Practice Run

The best pediatric dentists are very understanding when it comes to the ways children often react to dental visits. If you are taking your child into the dentist for the first time or they are having a new procedure performed like a tooth extraction, you may want to talk to your child's dentist about having a "practice" dental visit.

During this visit, your child's dentist will walk them through the appointment and procedure without actually touching their teeth or mouth. Your child can see the tools that their dentist will use, ask questions, and even watch the dentist do a demonstration on artificial teeth to show them exactly what will be happening when they are in the dental chair. This will help them get to know their dentist better and be comfortable with those first few unfamiliar appointments.

Now that you know some of the ways that you can help your child feel more comfortable going to the dentist, you can be sure that you are doing everything you can to make their associations with going to the dentist more positive going forward. To find a pediatric dentist, check out a site like http://www.childrensdent.com.

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