First Trip to the Dentist

We read a few books from the library the week before and I think the bearnstein bears and Barney had a good movie. My daughter did way better than expected!

My oldest saw the dentist for the first time at 3.5, and his just now 3 year old brother will be going for the first time in a couple of weeks.

Have her go along to appointments with you, your husband, and any other family you can think of for her to get used to the sights, sounds, and possibly what to expect. Talk about what happens at a dentist appointment.

Bottom line is, a good dentist is not going to push her into anything she is unwilling to do -- this would cause unnecessary stress for her, and an overall unpleasant experience, making her not want to go back. My guess is that they will make it fun by allowing her to "use" the instruments, push the chair up and down, and give her prizes at the end of her appointment (This is all stuff that happened when my son went).

I hope you're pleasantly surprised with the outcome, and your daughter has a great experience at the dentist!

Maybe take a preliminary visit first (oh, lets stop here while we run errands because mommy needs to talk to someone) and set the appointment then. Point out the toys, the fish tank, the other kids, the pictures of the kitties and doggies on the wall... whatever to make it more fun. But almost keep that "It's the dentist.... yada yada" cause it might freak her out more. See if they can give her the little goodie bag of stickers, floss and toothbrush on the visit. Then she'll feel more familiar when she goes for her real check up. And Play dentist at home, she "cleans" and looks in your mouth with a flashlight and toothbrush, and you to her. And if she needs her security blanket, loves, doll, etc, let her bring them!

good luck

What is your dentists "chairside manner" like? Ours is a really fun guy who likes to joke around. He also closes his office for a week every summer and takes the staff to Belize and does volunteer dentistry work there. The first few times I had my kids in there he made fun of the mask he wears (it has the big clear face piece, so it almost looks like the front of a welder's mask, only it is all clear) and says things like "It's so you can't spit on me! hahah" He is just really funny and obviously enjoys the rapport with his patients. He has one REALLY good tech who is wonderful with the kids too. She is a grandma and just loves the kids. The other techs are all fine, but not quite as outgoing and friendly as the grandma.

If your dentist is not naturally an outgoing fun kinda guy, it might make the visit a little more uncomfortable for your daughter. For our kids, it was easy. In fact, our daughter begged to go because she saw how much fun her older brother had when he went. They get stickers and a new toothbrush, and a pack of floss. And they get to pick which flavor of flouride, too.
My daughter even broke half of a permanent front tooth off falling off her scooter (on a holiday, urg!) but still was fine through the entire repair visit!

If your dentist is more quiet and reserved and "professional" in that scary sort of way, then maybe you would be better served to consider checking into pediatric dental offices.
For us, we have always downplayed any kind of doctor or dental visits. It's just part of life like everything else. Kids pick up our cues more than we realize. (Like animals... they sense the vibes we send out even if we don't think we are sending any).

It seems like the first visit my son had, the dentist put the chair ALL the way UP and then tilted it aLLLLLL the way down/back too. Like it was a ride at the fair almost. Then made some jokes about it all to put him at ease.
But I would plan something fun for afterwards too. And then be non-chalant about the dental visit first..
you know: "well, once we get your teeth cleaned, which shouldn't take very long, we can go _____ (to the park) What's the first thing you want to climb on? (to the movie) Do you want a booster seat there? (to the bookstore) What kind of story do you want to look for? One about puppies?"

Just make it a less big of a deal than the AFTER activity will be.

And maybe talk to the dentist's staff ahead of time (call ahead before you leave home) and let them know she is VERY nervous. My kids usually do better if they are treated like little adults than kids. Let them know what works best for your daughter: princess child or little adult.

OH.. and we read The Berenstein Bears Visit the Dentist a lot at home, too. :)

The first time I took our 2.5 y/o we just did a walk through. We went to our dentist office and they showed him around. They let him sit in the seat, touch some of the tools they use, showed them the TV he would get to watch a movie on, he met the dentist and on the way out he got to pick a toy from the treasure chest.
The next visit he sat on my lap and he opened up and let them count his teeth. The third visit he was relaxed enough that they were able to clean them, brush them and floss them :)
He is much more apprehensive than my oldest (who at 2 sat perfectly still for an entire dental exam on his first visit) and I have found if I take baby steps with him he does quite well.

I told my daughter what would happen. It helped that we had a Moms group activity where a pediatric dentist gave a gift bag with a face mask, mirror, toothbrush etc. Then We played Dentist. First I pretended to be the dentist and my daughter was the patient described the office, etc and what would happen going through the motions and imitating the sounds. Then we switched roles. She asked to play Dentist every so often. When her appt came I asked her to let me know if we missed anything in our pretend appointments. The next few times I made sure we played Dentist a few days before her appt. After her appointments she says she wanst to be a Dentist when she grows up.

Sorry if I'm redundant, I didn't read all the other responses.

My son, age 3 years, 2 months just had his first dental appointment in Dec. He did not go to a pediatric dentist but to our family dentist. The hygenist that I see, saw both of us. And because I'm a stay-at-home mom, he's been going with me and my husband to our appts (We schedule for the same day an hour apart, so that someone can stay with him.). So, he's been taking practice rides in the chair for the last year and also, has sat on my lap watching the hygenist clean and polish my teeth. He did a great job.

I think if you can take her with you and have her watch you get your teeth cleaned (unless you are a terrible patient) and leave the rest up to the professionals. They are used to dealing with children who are visiting for the first time. I would just let them know that she is frightened. And I'd try to watch what you say about the dentist between now and then. If she knows you hate it, chances are she is going to expect to!

I recently took my 4yd old to the dentist for the first time. She tends to be easy going regarding the doctor and it seemed to carry over to the dentist. I took her to a pediatric dentist to insure it was a kid-friendly experience for her.

I told her that she was a big girl now and she had to let the dentist look at her teeth, polish them up a bit, and make sure all was ok. I told her that she would probably get a toothbrush before she left. She told her class she was going to the dentist and they told her their "prize" stories and she was super excited to go. All was great.

I would talk it up as the "coolest thing ever" and maybe have a special breakfast or lunch and maybe a small gift (or offer a trip to get a special gift AFTER a visit if she is good).

I would ask that the first trip not be for a cleaning or anything, just maybe a quick tooth count and check (just to look at the spacing and see if they look fine on the outside), and to tour the office, including the Xray machine and maybe be able to hold some of the (non sharp) tools. I was worried sick about taking my son because he was HORRIBLE at the doctor's office and just didn't want any stranger talking to him at all, much less sticking their fingers in his mouth! BUT he surprised the heck out of me at age 4 when we went for his first check up, and the pediatric dentists and staff were SO good with him! He wouldn't lay down on the seat, but he did open his mouth and let them "paint" on flouride. They are also very good about giving rewards (stickers, new toothbrush...) at his dentist, so that makes every trip exciting!

I'll let you know tonight, we're going for the first time today with my almost 4 year old daughter.

Mostly I've been psyching her up about how the dentist will take pictures of her teeth and look at them. I'm going to have her go first (I have an appointment today as well) so hopefully she won't get scared by seeing me go through it. No cleaning today, they just do the x-rays the first visit, that is more what I'm worried about, but hoping for a good first visit and that she'll be not too afraid about the cleaning next time.

I started taking my daughter to the dentist at 1yrs old. My dentist said she likes to see them starting at age 1 once a year until they are 3 or 4, just so they can get used to going. I personally think it's more along the lines of insurance money she gets from me :) She had no problems going there and actually enjoyed it, I was suprised, because I dread going to the dentist, I absolutely hate it!

I don't think taking her for a pre-trip is a bad idea. Just to show her around and show her that the dentist and hygenists aren't bad people.

My dds went right before 3. Like Beth M said, the dentist would not make it traumatic. It can just be a ride in the chair or a teeth count. This is what my Dentist proposed when we planned our first daughter's first visit.

I am on the other side of this which is also stressful, my littlest one who is almost 5 goes on a full out meltdown when she doesn't get check lol. She is autistic and it is hard for her to understand that the visit is for her sister and that she just went a week ago.

IWhen it was time for each of my boys to go to the dentist for the first time (at age 3 1/2), I took them with me to my dentist so they could see me getting cleaned first. Once they saw me get it done and saw the cool big chair that went up and down, they were actually begging for their turn. I just took them back to my dentist then a couple weeks later and had no problems.

There are several books about going to the dentist. Maybe those would help her out. Also, we always let our kids go with us and watch before we take them for the first time.

For my DDs first, we scheduled it around a really fun day. We went to the movies, out to eat at McDonald's (a real treat for her since we never go there), a "new" park, and I just made a big deal of our special day together and listed the dentist as one of the fun things we do. I wouldn't say anything about it being like the doctor if she doesn't like the doctor. Say it's going to be fun and get excited about it as part of the special day. Keep building it up as fun. I'd suggest schduling it earlier in the day though so there are more fun things to back it up later in the day. Good luck!