The Road to a Healthy Smile

More than 40% of children experience tooth decay by the time they reach kindergarten.

This statistic is alarming!

From late night doctor visits to diaper changes, you’ve worked hard to take care of your child. Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to worry about tooth decay? Your child’s oral health care should start early!

You should schedule your child’s first dental visit when they are between 6 months and one year old. It is important to check those erupting teeth as they are prey for decay as soon as they appear!

How to prepare your child:

To prepare your child for their first visit you need to let them know what to expect so they won’t be surprised or startled. The key is to be patient and remain calm. This way your child won’t react to your anxiety.

What we will do:

During your child’s first visit we will do the following:

• Examine the teeth, oral tissues, jaw and bite
• Look for issues with bite or bone growth
• Perform a gentle cleaning and polish the teeth that have surfaced only if it will contribute to a positive experience for your child
• Try to take necessary age appropriate x-rays of the teeth
• Provide you with a complete report of your child’s oral condition and a printed estimate if any future work needs to be done

What you can do at home:

Use a clean, damp cloth to clean your child’s gums after each feeding or meal. As soon as the first tooth appears, brush them with a soft toothbrush with only a grain of rice amount of adult strength fluoride tooth paste (0.243%). Continue using a rice grain of tooth paste till your child learns to spit. Let your child play with the tooth paste on the brush to do the fluoride treatment then you can brush after with just a wet brush.

Around age 7, let him/her brush their own teeth. You should supervise the brushing. This helps to build confidence and instill proper brushing technique.

We want to make your child’s first visit as fun and easy as possible. By working together, we can give your child a head start on a healthy smile!