Taking Your Child to the Dentist

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The First Dental Visit

  • Take your child to the dentist when the first tooth erupts or at the latest at the child’s first birthday.
  • The earlier the dental visit, the better the chance of preventing dental problems for your child.
  • Read your child a book about going to the dentist.
  • Be positive about going to the dentist!
  • Do not talk about being afraid of the dentist.
  • Do not talk about pain.
  • Answer your child’s questions about going to the dentist.
  • Establish a habit for your child of going to the dentist regularly.
  • A first dental visit should be a positive experience for your child.

Basic Dental Terms

 The dentist calls it…

 Adults say…

Parents, please say to your child…

Which problems do patients have?

Cavity

Hole in tooth

You have a sick tooth.
You have sugar bugs in your tooth.

Abscess

Gum boil, swelling, infection

For little kids: there is “owie” right here

Fractured tooth

Broken tooth

Broken tooth

What dentists do:

Put mouth prop into mouth

Bite block

The dentist puts a tooth chair
Or tooth pillow in your mouth so you can rest your teeth on it.

Give injection

Give shot; use needle; poke;
injection

Squirt some sleepy juice/water next to your tooth

Rubber Dam

Rubber dam

The dentist puts a rain coat around your tooth to keep your face dry.

Extraction

Knock out
Yank
Pull

Your tooth turned into an owie and we will get rid of the owie; Wiggle a tooth out;
Remove a sick tooth; Get ready for Tooth Fairy and Big Boy/girl teeth

Prepare the tooth for a filling / cavity preparation

Drilling

Clean the sugar bugs out of your tooth;
Clean the sick part away

Restoration (filling)

Metal filling

Band-Aid
Silver Star/Play-Dough
White Star/Play-Dough

Sealants

Sealants; coating of tooth; tooth gets painted

We paint something on your tooth to make your tooth smooth and strong, so the sugar bugs cannot get into it.

Pulpotomy

Root canal;
Nerve

Clean sick tooth and give it some medicine

Stainless steel crowns

Crowns; caps

Tooth jewelry
Tooth baseball cap

Make an impression

Make an impression; make a form of the teeth

We have some pudding and make a model of your teeth with it.

Medicines dentists use:

Nitrous oxide

Gas

Special air
Special perfume

Nitrous oxide mask

Gas mask

Scuba mask
Airplane pilot mask

Sedative

Drug
Put you under
Put you to sleep

Yummy medicine
Special juice

Local anesthesia (numb)

Novacaine; make you numb

Sleepy juice

Instruments dentists use:

Immobilizer

Papoose board
Restraint

Butterfly blanket
Surfboard

Suction

Suction; vacuum

vacuum

Air / Water syringe

Squirt water / air

Wash and dry the tooth;
Mr. Wind

Explorer

Instrument; pick

Tooth counter; some of your teeth are itchy and I scratch them with this.

Scaler

Scraper

Tooth cleaner

Curing light

Light gun

Tooth hair dryer

Handpiece (high-speed)

Drill, Cut

Mr. Whistle
Super Fast Toothbrush

Handpiece (low-speed)

Drill, Cut

Mr. Bumpy

Visits to Prevent Dental Disease

  • Dental visits help to keep your child’s teeth healthy.
  • Having your child’s teeth cleaned and polished helps to keep the teeth healthy.
  • Having fluoride treatments helps to keep your child’s teeth healthy.
  • Your child can have sealants applied to their teeth to help prevent cavities.
  • The dentist can make a mouth-guard to help prevent sports injuries.
  • The dentist can care for your child’s early orthodontic needs

Visits to Take Care of Problems

  • Whenever your child complains of a tooth ache, take your child to the dentist.
  • Note: The earlier a dentist takes care of a sick tooth, the better it is.
  • If you do not see a dentist when your child has a cavity, the cavity can get deeper and go to the nerve of the tooth. This is very painful for your child.
  • It can also lead to a painful infection - called “abscess”.

What to do When your Child is Afraid of the Dentist

  • Read books to your child about going to the dentist to help them relax.
  • Tell them about going to the dentist in a matter-of-fact way.
  • Answer your child’s questions about what will happen in a straight forward way.
  • If you are relaxed about taking your child to the dentist, your child is less likely to be afraid.
  • Let the dental team explain to your child what will happen in child friendly words.
  • Think about which time of day might work best for your child. Taking your child later in the day when the child is tired might not be the best time.

Seeing Specialists

  • The dentist might recommend that you take your child to an orthodontist.
  • An orthodontist can help make your child’s smile pretty by straightening teeth.
  • Straight teeth are easier to keep clean.