After nearly twenty years of parenting (times three) I have arranged and sat through my share of dentist appointments! If I was feeling saucy I might claim to have sat through someone else’s share too! Throw in the braces for one child and nearly two years at the orthodontist and I’ve seen just about everything when it comes to kids and the dentist. Even if your child has been to the dentist before, preparing him or her for the next visit is important.
Most kids need a little preparation for a trip to the dentist. Even if you have the most fabulous dentist who is gentle and concentrates on making it as pleasant an experience as possible for the child, it is still common for a child to be apprehensive. Plus, there is a big difference between the experience of getting X-rays, a cleaning and having a cavity filled! I think what can make this an even bigger challenge for a parent is that we often have some apprehension and nervousness of our own.
You know your child best, but I found with mine that the more I could tell them specifically in advance what to expect, the calmer they were. I would explain to them step by step what to expect and if there were areas that I was unsure of, I would tell them that. I would be honest if I did not know how long the appointment would take or tell them when I was making a guess. I am a big believer in not telling a child that things will be fun or painless if they may not be. My kids always responded really well if I could tell them what things felt like to me, or put it in terms that they could relate to: “When you get ready for the filling, the dentist will rub your gum with some medicine. Then she will give a shot of some even stronger medicine. To me, it feels like getting pinched hard.” What I learned with my kids was that they knew and understood what pain felt like and if I could explain it that way, they could be prepared. It was the unknown that was the scariest.