Have you ever asked yourself, “When Should I take my Child to a New Dentist?” Many parents ask themselves this question when they or their children have a bad experience.
As a parent you’ll have to ask yourself what’s important to you:
- Does your dentist show you exactly where they’ve found cavities?
- Do they explain the reasons why you need treatment?
Does your dentist explain the treatment to you?
It goes without saying, your dentist should explain the treatment to you and why it is important. The dentist should be showing you the parent, the areas of concern both on the x-ray and in your child’s mouth. It is our goal to make sure that parents understand and are on the same page as us.
Managing Anxious Behavior
Some children get anxious at the dentist. A dental office experienced with treating children will have many anxiety calming strategies and only occasionally, with parents consent, use laughing gas or (in even more rare instances) use sedation techniques to calm your child’s anxiety. Learn more about our approach to sedation.
The Pediatric Dentist (2 years training) Difference
Some parents take their children to see their own dentist, usually a general dentist. It is important to note that a pediatric dentist has 2 additional years residency training with children than general dentists.
Pediatric dentists are trained in the psychology of children with all different types of behaviors and levels of cooperation. They also have training in sedation and general anesthesia if your child needs them.
Working with a frightened, anxious child requires strategies to calm them enough to stay in the chair. Different dental offices may use different strategies.
In some cases, offices inexperienced with children may consider it acceptable to use restraints to complete treatment on a fearful or defiant child. The restraints typically come in the form of a papoose board, which looks like this:
As you can see the velcro straps stabilize the child. The stabilization is important to protect the child from getting hurt while the dentist is using the drill in the mouth.
While in this photo the child is smiling, in reality the child will be upset, crying, and possibly screaming. Most often children become fearful of future visits and it becomes more and more difficult to convince them otherwise.
We do NOT use these restraints
At Junior Smiles Children’s Dentistry®, we believe there are far superior methods to stabilize anxious children and safely perform treatments. You will not find these restraints in our office.
Other offices offer sedation and general anesthesia where children needing treatment go to sleep to have their treatment done. While there are medications involved to achieve this, it does provide the child with a memory-free and pain-free experience. Sedation is typically done when the child has a small amount of treatment needed and general anesthesia is used for medium to large amounts of treatment.
To receive gentle care for your children, please give Junior Smiles Children’s Dentistry® a call at 303-455-3313.
