As kids, we have all been through it. We are meeting our dentist for the very first time. It feels intimidating and it feels scary. No matter what you do, children become fearful of the dentist. Although necessary to keep children’s teeth healthy and maintain excellent oral hygiene, kids may find it difficult to understand at first how it all works in a dental practice, which fills them with fear when clips and clunks are placed inside their mouths. Although kids Dental cleaning can be an uncomfortable process at first, it is something that could take many journeys to the dentist for children to overcome that fear.
However, there are measures you as a parent, reading this post, can take to reduce your child’s fear of the dentist and to make them feel more relaxed. Let’s get right into it.
Bravery Rewards – Something that usually works with children, is to reward them with a sweet, a present or a favorite activity as a reward for being brave. When your child is focused on the dental visit, kid’s attention can be diverted quite easily to something a lot more fun for them to do. Decide which method works better for your child in this situation. You can ask them what they would want to do, or what would they want once the dental trip is finished. Put the ball in your children’s court so they have something else to look forward to and think about.
Divert your child’s focus – During the dental visit, talk to your child during the visit and focus on positive things which they want to hear. Speak positively towards your child and talk to them about either their day at school or about their favorite topic. Talking to your child about something they like is a terrific way for them to be attentive away from the dental visit.
Emphasise why oral hygiene is important – Before your children pays a visit to the dentist, explain to your child why looking after their teeth is important, and explain that the dentist wants to look after their teeth. You can talk to your child with a few simple points like:
The dentist wants to look after that beautiful smile.
The dentist wants to keep your teeth strong to eat.
The dentist wants to keep your teeth away from germs.
Children don’t want to be scared, but it is their default feel for something they’ve never done before that they are not comfortable with. Talk positive to them.
As parents, you hope that whatever you say to your child will make them stop being scared or avoid crying. It’s not that easy and it’s important that this is understood first. Your methods of diverting focus or rewarding them may not necessarily work the way you want but stay calm. When conducting a dental check-up for your little one, the dentist may ask you to hold the hand of your child during the Children dental check-up and keep them comfortable. Sometimes, children may need to be put through the check-up with some fussy moments but reassure them as a parent that you are close to them and channel them through the check-up with calmness.
At Hills Dental Design, Contact our Pennant Hills Dentist team to schedule an appointment so we can help you with Oral health.