Youtube:  When Should a Child See a Dentist For The First Time?

When Should a Child See a Dentist For The First Time?

Hi, this is Doctor Antolak from TheGentleDentist.com in Shelby Township, Michigan. And what I want to talk to about today is a little bit about when a great time to bring your child in.

You know, we have a lot of patients in our Shelby Township dental office who have little ones and they seem to always ask that question, when is the right time to bring your kid in to the dentist for the first time.

You know, I think it is best to bring them in, when they are not having any issues or problems. When they can see us as just regular people, and, so that they can just have some fun at the dental office. You know, especially with our hygiene team that we have.

The ladies here are very friendly, at our dental office. And, you know, we can do some things with riding the chair going up and down, and maybe using a little squirt gun and showing them what to do, and then making it real simple like that just to kind of introduce them to what it’s like to visit the dentist.

It’s also a good time to educate parents on good oral hygiene practices for the children and good nutrition, because one of the things that’s the worst things for kids is especially young children is to have a diets too high in sugars.  Which include not only pop, but juices that are not diluted, juices, fruit roll-ups.

For infants, if they go to bed with milk in a bottle, and it creates something called bottle mouth decay. Which destroys the front teeth and cavities. So, really it’s setting them straight on what good nutrition is, what good nutrition looks like.

The reality is that the bacteria that form cavities really are things that actually transfer from the parent to the child. Children are not born with these bacteria.  So it’s really important to know about good oral hygiene. So that there’s a really good awareness of how to take care of your children’s teeth.

We’ll start seeing your children to do their cleanings of their teeth, maybe between two to three years old. And that’s when they have enough teeth in their mouths when we can start polishing them up. And at that point it’s a simple visit. Once again, no X-rays really to speak of unless there’s a specific problem. And then after the first visit, then it becomes a fun experience at the dentist and something fun to come to.

When Should a Child See a Dentist For The First Time?

So, if you have questions on when should a child see a dentist for the first time, you can feel free to give us a call. My phone number is 586 247 3500. Thank you.