Your Child's Visit
The American Dental Association recommends your child's first visit starting at age 1 or as soon as your child's first tooth erupts. This allows your child to get used to us working inside their mouth as well as review home care and diet habits to ensure a healthy mouth as they grow.
Your child's first appointment with our practice will start with a New Patient Exam & Cleaning. As we are doing our exam and cleaning, we can talk to you about brushing at home, diet, habits, and point out any findings we come across as we’re working. We provide care in a gentle manner so that we can build trust with your child and make coming to the dentist a fun experience!
Parental guidelines for your child's visit
We are asked a lot about parents being allowed in the room with children....below are our guidelines.
We try to limit the number of individuals in the clinical area. For the safety of our dental team and your child, siblings are not allowed in the operative rooms while any treatment is being preformed.
New patient exams & well care visits: For new patient exams and subsequent well care appointments, especially for young children, we love having parents right next to their child during the visit. In addition, we love getting to know families as a whole and we value this time that we all get to spend together in the office. As a child gets older, we encourage independence by allowing your child to come back for their cleanings by themselves. This helps us to build a trusting relationship with your child. And most kids take great pride in their bravery and feel accomplished when they get through the whole visit on their own.
Treatment Rooms: Our general recommendation for your child's first operative visit (fillings, etc.) is to try to see how your child does without you, the parent, in the room. Allowing your child to enter the appointment without you means you are placing trust in our dental team and teaching your child to do the same. It is our specialty to create an environment in which your child feels safe. Even if your child is not nervous, usually the parent has some level of anxiety about the procedure and kids can easily pick up on these emotions. Without the parent in the room, our dental team will get the full attention of your child to direct them through the procedure. We are specially trained on how to manage children during these situations and we focus on distracting the child with specific conversations or the TV above their heads, helping them breathe well with the nitrous oxide/laughing gas (if needed), and moving quickly to complete the procedure as painlessly and easily as possible. That being said, every child is unique and you know your child best. We know that while some children will do better without the parent present, there are children that are extremely fearful of being without their parent. If you remain in the operatory room for treatment, we ask that you to play a passive role in managing behavior and focus more on being there for moral support. It can be confusing for a child if more than one person is talking or directing. Our purpose is to gain your child’s confidence and trust that grow into a fun and positive relationship.
Our practice always allows you to make the choice. If you decide to accompany your child, we would ask the following:
Assume the role of a silent observer. Your presence is greatly enhanced if you play a passive role. If more than one person is speaking to the child they may become confused. Cooperation and trust must be established directly between our dental team and your child.
In order to allow necessary space for our Dental Team to provide outstanding care for your child, only one Parent / Guardian may accompany a patient into the operatory.
Due to your child’s safety and the safety of our dental staff, we ask that siblings of patients remain in the waiting area.
