What to Expect at Your Visit

What to Expect at Your First Visit

The first dental visit is usually short and involves very little treatment. This visit gives your child an opportunity to meet the dentist in a non-threatening and friendly way. Some dentists may ask the parent to sit in the dental chair and hold their child during the examination. The parent may also be asked to wait in the reception area during part of the visit so that a relationship can be built between your child and the dentist.

During the examination, the dentist will check all of your child’s existing teeth for decay, examine your child’s bite, and look for any potential problems with the gums, jaw, and oral tissues. If indicated, the dentist will clean any teeth and assess the need for fluoride. He or she will also educate parents about oral health care basics for children and discuss dental developmental issues and answer any questions.

Topics your dentist may discuss with you might include:

• Good oral hygiene practices for your child’s teeth and gums
• Cavity prevention
• Fluoride needs
• Oral habits (thumb sucking, tongue thrusting, lip sucking)
• Developmental milestones
• Teething
• Proper nutrition
• Schedule of dental checkup visits. Many dentists like to see children every 6 months to build up the child’s comfort and confidence level in visiting the dentist, to monitor the development of the teeth, and to promptly treat any developing problems.

It’s important to know that the parent or legal guardian who accompanies the child for this first visit will be asked to complete medical and health information forms concerning the child. Come prepared with the necessary information.

Baby Dental Care

Here are some dos and don’ts for caring for your baby’s teeth.

As They Age: Dental Care for Kids

As your child grows older, they will take over more and more dental-care activities themselves. However, it’s still very important that parents remain involved in their children’s dental health. For instance, did you know that children do not have the dexterity to brush their teeth properly until they hit middle school? Continue to allow your child to brush first, but monitor the brushing carefully and step in to brush the teeth yourself if you think it’s needed. Even if your child complains, it’s worth it to combat future cavities.

You’ll need to teach your child how to floss, too. Ideally they should do it daily. There are great videos on YouTube that demonstrate proper flossing techniques, but the best way to learn is simply to practice. Again, you’ll need to monitor how to care for children’s teeth by staying with your child while he or she flosses to help get the hang of it. You may find it helpful to use unwaxed floss. It is thinner and thus easier to get through the smaller gaps in baby teeth.

Oral Hygiene for Kids: Proper Brushing

It’s extremely important to instruct your child on how to brush his or her teeth properly. This is not an easy thing to learn. You must be vigilant to make sure that the child is brushing at least two minutes per day, the amount recommended by dentists. Have your child hold the brush at a 45-degree angle, brushing gently from gum to tooth.

“Gently” is the key word — if your child saws away aggressively at the mouth, it could cause problems such as receding gum lines or tooth sensitivity in later years. Make sure the child covers every surface of the tooth, from the back to the top to the front.

Also remind your child to brush the top of the mouth and the tongue, moving the brush forward toward the front of the mouth. This gets rid of lingering bacteria in the oral cavity.

To help your child get a feel for how long he or she should be brushing, find a favorite song that lasts two minutes. Play that song every morning and night during tooth-brushing time so that the child gets familiar with how long the task should take.

Before Toothpaste Was Invented

We're lucky that we know so much now about taking care of our teeth. Long ago, as people got older, their teeth would rot away and be very painful. To get rid of a toothache, they had their teeth pulled out. Finally, people learned that cleaning their teeth was important, but they didn't have toothpaste right away.

While you're swishing that minty-fresh paste around your mouth, think about what people used long ago to clean teeth:

• ground-up chalk or charcoal
• lemon juice
• ashes (you know, the stuff that's left over after a fire)
• tobacco and honey mixed together

Yuck!

It was only about 100 years ago that someone finally created a minty cream to clean teeth. Not long after that, the toothpaste tube was invented, so people could squeeze the paste right onto the toothbrush! Tooth brushing became popular during World War II. The U.S. Army gave brushes and toothpaste to all soldiers, and they learned to brush twice a day. Back then, toothpaste tubes were made of metal; today they're made of soft plastic and are much easier to squeeze!

Today there are plenty of toothpaste choices: lots of colors and flavors to choose from, and some are made just for kids. When you're choosing a toothpaste, make sure it contains fluoride. Fluoride makes your teeth strong and protects them from cavities.

When you brush, you don't need a lot of toothpaste: just squeeze out a bit the size of a pea. It's not a good idea to swallow the toothpaste, either, so be sure to spit after brushing.