Pediatric Dentistry

Having a two and half year old that has had teeth since he was six months old, one of the greatest things we have come across is pediatric dentistry. We live in a fairly rural town, and within the past few months there have been a few offices that have opened that specialize in pediatric dentistry, one of which we visited a few months ago.

Since my son has all of his teeth, we figured it was time to take that first trip to the dentist. We were a little unsure of taking him to our regular dentist because the whole environment just seemed a little overwhelming for a little guy. Everything is so sterile looking and probably quite scary to a little person that is much smaller than some of the equipment in the office. We started a search for an office that specializes in pediatric dentistry and found one that was covered by our dental insurance to try out.

Dentists Especially for Children.

Our first trip was basically an introduction to the office. We took our son in and were surprised by how much more welcoming the office was compared to our dental office. There were colorful pictures on the wall, stuffed animals decorating the office and the dental assistants were dressed in kid themed scrubs, making them much more approachable than the plain colored sterile assistants at our office. The nice assistant took our son through the office showing him how some of the instruments worked and even let him sit in the cleaning chair while she moved it up and down. We then met the dentist, who certainly related to kids much better than any other dentist I have come in contact with.

We left, and then went back for our cleaning a few weeks later. Being a kid, he was very apprehensive about the whole ordeal, but the staff was wonderful about it. Being in pediatric dentistry that is basically all they deal with so they had some great tricks of the trade that really helped our son get through the cleaning. They also were so patient because they expect this from kids, and aren't adhering to a clock like at a regular dentist's office.

If you have an opportunity to, I would highly recommend going to an office that specializes in pediatric dentistry for those first few years of a child's dental care. The whole family will be much more at ease and going to the dentist won't be such a scary thought!

Article by G.B. Flintwood an independent writer for Healthy Help Files on Dental Health Issues.

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