Check-Up & Clean

First Dental Visit – What Age?

The importance of your child’s first few dental visits cannot be overstressed. It is during this time that the child establishes it’s impressions of dentistry. These can affect the child’s attitude to dentistry and its consequence on oral health for a lifetime.

Smile Bay Dental Burpengary encourage mothers to bring along their children from age 1. Not for an examination for the child but rather, each time mum has a routine six-monthly examination the child can watch mum in the dental chair. After each visit, the child gets more familiar with the routine so that by age 18 months to 2 years they go for rides in mum’s lap on the chair. By age 2 to 3 we (mum and the dentist) try to have a look at the teeth with a dental mirror. If the child is at all resistant to this the dentist working out of Smile Bay Dental Burpengary will stop and try again six months later. Usually by age 3 the child is happy to sit in the chair by themselves (with mum in the room of course) and allow their dentist to check their teeth.

Once they have discovered the buttons that make the chair go up and down and the “water pistol” they need no encouragement! Of course, the dentist give all young patients (and some not so young!) stickers to collect.

It is so much better to introduce your child to regular dental visits step-by-step and to make these visits fun rather than have your child hear horror stories from another child at kindergarten or school, who has had an atrocious experience.

At these early visits, the dentist is likely to stress the importance of prevention to you and give you advice on the child’s diet and brushing tips. Together the dentist and the family are aiming never to have to do a filling.

These first visits are crucial and will set your child up for a lifetime of positive attitudes to dentistry and the oral health benefits that this brings.