Another milestone in your child’s life will be their first visit to see the dentist.  The general time period that seems to be recommended by many dentists that focus on young children is between the ages 2 ½ to 3 years.  Of course they will have had numerous visits to the pediatrician’s office, but that first dental visit can be a somewhat different story, at least in the minds of the parents that is.

The reason for this may have more to do with the parents than the child itself.  Your young toddler doesn’t have any of the experiences we have had in the dental chair.  So it’s important that we lay the proper groundwork in terms of preparing the child to see the dentist for the first time. 

Often dentists will say it is most important how you talk to a child as you prepare them for the going to the office.  There are a few easy ways to do this.  It can start with talking to them about their teeth and how they differ from the teeth that grown ups have.  You can begin as simply as talking to them about their baby teeth and that someday they will a set of larger “Grown up teeth”.  Then you can tell them about how their teeth will begin falling out in a few years and that they will then start growing those big grown up teeth. 

This will be easier if they have a sibling that has already begun to loose teeth and seen them replaced with new ones.  This way you can start forming the message in their mind about how important teeth are and how they require a whole separate regimen of care.

»Getting ready to go see the tooth doctor