Taking a child to the dentist is vital in keeping their teeth healthy. Children should regularly visit the dentist to enhance excellent oral hygiene habits that are essential right through their entire lives. Some children enjoy and look forward to dental visits. However, other children dread a dental appointment.
Such children panic and freeze at the mention of a dental clinic or a dentist. For children with dental anxiety, taking them to a dental clinic is never an easy thing. Unfortunately, dental phobia prevents children from receiving the dental care they require for beautiful and healthy smiles. Parents can address dental anxiety in children to enhance their oral health.
These tricks or suggestions should help make dental visits for a child more relaxed and more comfortable than before.
Start young
One of the tricks of addressing dental anxiety in children is to start dental visits early. It offers a child a dental home where all his dental needs are addressed, whether it is an emergency or preventive treatment. It is advisable to start dental visits as soon as a child turns one or even before this after the appearance of the first tooth. Sheen dental in Richmond pride themselves in their child-friendly dentists and comfortable and relaxing space for a child of any age.
Read related storybooks
A parent or caregiver can look for dental storybooks with colourful illustrations, a happy dental experience for the main character, and an easy-to-understand language for a child to comprehend. A dental storybook may help a child to better understand what to expect at a dental visit. A concerned parent can ask their dentist for recommendations of a friendly dental storybook to read to their child with the aim to reduce anxiety.
Watch the language
The other effective way of dealing with dental anxiety in children is to avoid using negative words when talking about a dental visit. Rather than using words such as hurt or pain, use positive words like healthy and clean. One can also search for other child-friendly words to describe dental problems, tools, and procedures. The child-friendly words are aimed at setting a platform for a positive dental experience during the next dental visit for a child. If your child is experiencing dental pain, you should also ensure that they understand that the dentist is there to help stop the pain, not make it worse. If they have had a bad experience with their dentist in the past and you are looking for a new dentist for them, reassure them that their new dentist won’t be like the old one, otherwise, they may associate all dentists with their previous bad experience and pain.
Play a dentist at home
Another way to introduce the role of a dentist to a child is to play dentist at home. Let a child play the role of a dentist, and clean and examine a parent’s teeth. In turn, let the child play the role of a patient while the parent then pretends to be a dentist. A child may also practice with a doll and use a toothbrush. It helps them to realise that dental visits are calm and relaxed, which gets rid of any negative attitude towards the dental experience.
Teaching the importance of oral health
Help a child to understand that visiting a dentist is part of maintaining excellent oral hygiene. Also, let them know that dentists are friendly and they help them to maintain beautiful and healthy smiles.
Helping a child to overcome dental anxiety is vital for their physical and mental health. These suggestions should help a parent or caregiver take the first steps in doing so.
