First Dental Appointment

Two*True · January 2012

I'm leaving the office in a few minutes to take DD to her first dental appointment. Any quick words of wisdom from those of you that have already done this?

Wish me luck!

2brides · January 2012

I fretted about it - thinking they would be in hysterics. Nothing. Not a tear in the house. They don't do a cleaning at this age, just a check of her mouth.

- signed a mom who HATES the dentist and is very thankful her kids actually enjoy going.

Two*True · January 2012

Good to know. I'm mostly just waiting for my reprimand. DD used to love brushing her teeth but for months it has be a struggle. The fights are so awful that I only do it at night. If I tried to brush her teeth in the a.m. we would never get out of the house.

Plus one of her teeth came through with a brown spot on it. My brother had the same thing when he was a child (my mom was told it was just genetic) so I'm hoping it's the same and is NBD.

Meegs10.13.06 · January 2012

We are going to get Gwen in for her first soon too... I'm not super excited.

Two*True:
Plus one of her teeth came through with a brown spot on it. My brother had the same thing when he was a child (my mom was told it was just genetic) so I'm hoping it's the same and is NBD.

Do you guys give fluoride? If so, maybe you should check your water fluoridation levels, as you might not need to give her extra fluoride. Too much can lead to browning on the teeth.

ctbride08 · January 2012

you probably already left but its really no biggie. They look in the mouth, count the teeth, and you're done. 3 minutes, maybe.

Our dentist went for a full cleaning on RB a couple weeks ago and even that went okay (she was fine for 5 minutes, then fussed, but 2 minutes later it was done).

And if you get reprimanded you'll have company - at the time of the appointment Daisy was using a paci and getting 2-3 feedings per night...you can imagine the lecture we got

seattlekari · January 2012

I'm sure I've missed you, but this may help for the future and for Meegs and others taking their kids in now and in the future. The place I take E is for kids only and I like that aspect since I figure they should know all the tricks! They have a section on their website telling you what to do/expect at the first visit which includes the following paragraph:

Please discuss the positive aspects of dentistry with your child. You can explain that Dr. X will count and take pictures of his or her teeth. Please do not tell your child that the ?dentist will not hurt? as this may not ever have entered his or her mind. Also please avoid using words such as ?needle, shot, and pull? or any other words suggesting unpleasantness. Expect your child to do well and enjoy their visit to our office and chances are they will do just that!

I thought the sentence telling kids that it will not hurt is good advice because we don't want to plant that thought in their head since they haven't experienced it yet. And because we hope that for a while our kids will avoid any of those unpleasant dentist experiences!

It took E a couple of visits to get comfortable in the chair because they lean them way back to get a good peek in there. But she got to pick a prize from their prize drawer afterwards and they take pics of kids who have no cavities for their no cavity wall in the office. E is totally comfortable now (and even asks when she gets to go there again!). The first few times it was just counting as others have mentioned, then eventually they try a first cleaning when the kids are comfortable and it is super quick.

E and I struggled for a while with her letting me help her brush. The dentist actually talked with her about it when we were there (and that has helped because I could remind her that the dentist said I get to help!). He also recommended that you have the child lie down when you brush because you can get their mouth open wider and get a better view. He said it doesn't require much if any toothpaste at a young age, it's more about getting the brush where it needs to be!

Two*True · January 2012

Thanks all!

...oops didn't mean to post yet.

Things went really well :-) Jelly Bean was really into everything that was happening. The dental hygienist said that since she was sitting so well we could try the cleaning so we did. I can't believe she didn't even make a peep :-)

Meegs - the brown spot is just a place that her tooth didn't form hard white enamel and isn't a big deal. I had thought about the flouride but I've seen pictures of that and this looks a bit different.

Meegs10.13.06 · January 2012

Oh good. I just thought I would mention it since I'd never heard that before we started using fluoride.

Glad things went so well!!

Want a personalized experience?

First Dental Appointment

Re: First Dental Appointment

Choose Another Board

Search Boards