Helping with your child’s fear of the dentist

It is both the parents and the dentist’s role to allay the fears of children when they need to have dental treatment. It is perfectly understandable for a child to become nervous when going to a dentist so here is some guidance to help make the situation less daunting and turn the experience into a more positive one.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the parents’ role:

Parents’ Role in the Dental Visit

Children will pick up on fear quickly so parents should ensure that they don’t make a big deal of the dental visit and transmit any nervousness.

The language parents’ use is important in this situation. Avoiding words like hurt, painful, injections etc will ensure that the child doesn’t pick up on anything negative.

This may be obvious but don’t talk about unpleasant dental experiences you may have had in the past.

Don’t go into detail about the treatment your child is receiving. Tell them that the dentist will explain everything to them and it’s nothing to worry about.

Always remind children how important their teeth are and that dentists are there to ensure that they have healthy teeth and gums.

It may be tempting but don’t promise children an award for going to the dentist. This will immediately signal that it is something to worry about.

We have created a children book that is available to download for free to help parent make a visit to the dentist an enjoyable one. Click here…. Free Download of Ralphie Rabbit & The Achy Tooth

Dentist’s Role

Dentists will use techniques to ease children’s fears such as talking in a friendly voice, being authoritative when required and describing the procedure in a non-threatening, easy to understand way.

Dentists will use positive body language, reinforce positive behaviour and consistently compliment children on their good behaviour during the treatment.

Dentists will often engage children in conversation and tell them stories to take their mind off the treatment.

It is very important that your child has a positive experience at the dentist so that it doesn’t become an issue going forwards. At Bhandal Dentists all of our dentists have been trained in how to handle nervous children and they are experts at putting them at their ease and making their experience a positive one.

If you’re worried about your child’s visit to the dentist and would like peace of mind about how your child’s experience will be managed then please get in touch. We are more than happy to discuss this with you.