When Should My Child Have Their First Dental Visit?

A child’s first dental visit can be very daunting time for parents, our dentist has lots of ways of introducing your little one to the world of dentistry.  You can expect, your child will ‘go for a ride in our chair’ and have their teeth counted, while they watch cartoons on ABC3 on the television overhead.  The aim of this appointment is to make it as enjoyable as possible. It is recommended children have their first check up at around 2 years of age, this is to get them used to dental visits and creates a positive start to lifelong care.

Here are some ideas to prepare your child for their visit:

1)    Discuss with them what a dentist does and what happens when you go to the dentist.  Peppa Pig does a nice job of explaining to children what to expect at the dentist in an episode called “The Dentist” (Season 2, Episode 18). To watch online, try searching for “Peppa Pig at the Dentist” on Google or YouTube.

2)    If you are nervous about the dentist, be careful not to let your child pick up on this

3)    Read your child a book about first dental visits, we have a few of these available to borrow from our practice to get them ready

4)    Bring your child to your dental check up, so they can see what happens to you and then you can tell them what happened and how good you feel afterwards J

5)    Let the dentist and receptionist know it is your child’s first visit and make the appointment for a good time of day for your child, mornings are usually better for little ones when they aren’t tired and sad