Many children, like some adults, are frightened of seeing a dentist. That’s why it helps to find a local dentist who has experience working with kids as they will work wonders for your young child, both in dental and mental aspects.
The tooth doctor will take care of your child’s teeth and gums, making sure they are healthy, clean, and free from complications. At the same time, the pediatric dental professional will know to be gentle yet amusing for your child to feel relaxed, without fear of all the dental tools in the clinic. You, as the parent, on the other hand, may have to stay to the side with regards to the dental side of your child’s check-ups and procedures, but you can be useful in keeping your child calm.
Scary Dental Clinics
Children tend to fear the tooth doctor for many reasons. All the contraptions in the clinic may look intimidating. Having a stranger look into and work inside their mouths may feel invasive. Inexperienced and negligent tooth doctors can also cause painful, even horrifying, experiences, traumatizing your child.
Lead Your Child
A kids dentist in Salt Lake City will know how to handle anxious or fearful children, but some of the responsibility for your child also falls on you. You only have a secondary role in the dental clinic, but your role is important too. At times when the pediatric dental professional needs to focus on his work, only you can keep your child calm. With that, you can understand how to keep your child calm below.
Be the Calm Your Child Needs
You can combat your child’s dental clinic fears best displaying your calmness during procedures. When your child looks at you, you can show how calm and brave you are. Before even coming to the dental clinic, you can even tell positive stories that you have had with dental check-ups and procedures. In this way, your child can expect to have a relaxed and positive experience as well.
Introduce the Dental Expert
Aside from modeling calmness to your child, you can keep your child calm through familiarization too. Ideally, you have to expose your child to dental professionals from an age as early as one year old. Your child may be older now, however, but you can still bring your child to the pediatric dental professional.
You can simply introduce the tooth doctor to your child, and come back some other time for the actual check-up or procedure. A friendly introduction can create an image in your child’s mind that the tooth doctor is someone to be trusted. You can even go further by undergoing a check-up or procedure yourself; you model to your child this way and familiarize how the tooth doctor works too.
Bring Your Child’s Favorites
Finally, as a last resort, you can rely on books or toys. You can have your child pick his or her favorite book or toy before going to the dental clinic. During a check-up or procedure, you can read the book to your child or have your child hold the toy close. When your child’s fears reach highs, a favorite book or toy may be the only calming thing your child needs.
One Brave Child
With the tooth doctor’s specialized skills with children, and your efforts to keep your child calm as outlined above, your child can be brave and strong in the face of metal tools inside his or her mouth.