Does Your Child Hate The Dentist? Follow These Three Tips

Posted on: 19 July 2021

Many children experience anxiety when they find out that they must visit the dentist. Some children exhibit different symptoms. For instance, some children will go to the dentist and refuse to open their mouths, while others will scream at the dentist. Of course, there are some parents who can't even get their kids to leave the house to go to the dental office. All of these are normal responses. The good news is that there are steps that you can take to ease your child's fear of the dentist and get them to the office for their oral checkups.

Schedule a Friendly Meeting With the Dentist

Before you take your child to a dental appointment, contact the dental office and see about scheduling a one-on-one meeting between the dentist and your child. This will allow them to build a relationship. It isn't uncommon for children to have anxiety when meeting a stranger, so a brief introduction like this can ease the anxiety that your child has. Let your child meet the dentist who wants to help them maintain a healthy, beautiful smile!

Create Positive Reinforcements

Providing your child with some positive reinforcements following visiting the dentist can do more good than you realize. Your child will start to associate positive rewards with successful dental trips. One thing that you can do is reward them with a trip to the playground, the movie theater, or the store to pick out a toy. Just make sure it is something that they will like and enjoy. Soon enough, they will realize that they will get something good after going to the dentist and will end up looking forward to their trips to the dentist. Eventually, of course, these rewards will no longer be necessary.

Use Not-So-Scary Dental Words

The words that are used around your child about the dentist will have a direct impact on how your child feels about the dentist. Therefore, if you use scary words like shot, drill, pain, and other intimidating words, your child is going to be worried, scared, and feel anxious when it comes to visiting the dentist. Instead, you will want to use positive words. Make sure your child knows that the dentist will be counting how many teeth they have and cleaning the sugar off of their teeth. These statements are ones that your child can understand and relate to, and they are not scary to your child, helping to ensure a more pain-free, positive, and anxiety-free experience.

For more information on how to prepare your child for a dental appointment when they are anxious, contact a children's dental office in your area.

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