How to Prevent Dental Phobia among Children

by | Jan 8, 2013 | Dental Care

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One of the most frequent reasons why children absent themselves from school is toothache. Everybody is familiar that the reason for toothache is tooth decay resulting from poor dental hygiene. Children have a certain fondness for candies and chocolates, not to mention junk foods; however, they seldom appreciate dental hygiene. No matter how the parents instill in their minds the importance of brushing and flossing the teeth, children remain to ignore their dental care. Even at school, teachers including pediatric dentist in Vernon CT make it a point to provide information and knowledge to the children on the importance of dental health, but still they end up not having appropriate dental care at an early age.

Previous studies have revealed that tooth decay among school children are increasing every year. It can be assumed that this is due to the more affordable junk food that children are prone to eat when they are not at home. Parents can’t watch over the children all the time as they also need to earn a living; hence, it follows that the children only handle proper dental care after dinner or before going to school under the strict supervision of the parents.

Another reason why there is a prevalence of tooth decay among children is their fear of dentists. As long as they can keep the issues of tooth decay from their parents, they will continue to do so until such time when the tooth needs to be extracted because of severe pain. As most often the case, there is no apparent reason to fear a dentist but dental phobia is a common reason why children suffer in silence if only to avoid seeing a dentist.

Young children should not be exposed to anesthetics so it is important to see to it that the teeth are protected and cared for to avoid tooth extraction. It is very important for children to be exposed early in their life to a pediatric dentist in Vernon CT to remove the fear in the minds that dental treatments are painful. The truth is, dental care should start from the time that the first baby tooth springs out. Once the habit of brushing and flossing the teeth starts early in life, the child loses the fear inasmuch as the dentist has become a familiar figure.

In most cases, children from the depressed areas are not lucky enough to attain proper dental care due to the cost of the services. From time to time, dental missions visit the less privileged neighborhoods to provide free dental checkups. When the teeth are not given the right dental attention, the children will bring to adulthood their dental issues like crooked and misaligned teeth. Most of the time, the baby teeth will fall off before their due time and the permanent tooth have no guide to grow in the proper position. It is a pity since once they grow into adulthood, teeth imperfections can be a source of lack of confidence and self esteem.

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