Do you have a child that is afraid to go to the dentist? This is a common fear among many children, but it is not something that you can let hold your child back from getting the dental care that he is going to need throughout the years. Therefore, you are going to want to do everything that you can in order to help him overcome his fear of the dentist. To help you with this, you can make use of some of the tips found below.
Play Dentist at Home
Before scheduling an appointment with your Roseville dentist, you might want to take a little time to role play with your child. Allow him or her to be the dentist who can examine your teeth with a wooden tongue depressor and a flashlight. After a while, you will have your child pretend to be the patient and you can be the dentist. Once your child gets comfortable with having his or her teeth looked at, you can talk some about how the real dentist would essentially be doing the same exact thing.
Read Books about Going to the Dentist
Visit your local library, bookstore, or look online for children’s books that talk about going to the dentist. Read as many of these with your child. Stories that talk about how much fun other children have at the dentist can be encouraging. You might also want to find some stories that talk about how the dentist can make problems with the teeth go away and how much healthier kids can be when they see the dentist like they are supposed to.
Schedule a Tour
Give your dentist a call and ask if you can schedule a time for your child to have a tour of the dental office. This should be a time when the staff can show him around the waiting room and the back where his teeth will be cleaned. They might let him sit in the patient chair and even meet with the dentist. Allowing your child to tour the dental office and get a feel for the environment without having any actual work done to his teeth may help him be more relaxed. It will also allow him to have a little more confidence when his finally goes back in for his teeth cleaning.
