1. Have a conversation with the Staff on the phone.
Call the Dentist ahead to discuss your son/daughters needs. The more you know ahead of time about their practices and why they do them, the more comfortable you will be. Ask if they have experience with children who have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and if they have special procedures in order to optimize each visit. Ask about those procedures. Discuss whether you would like to accompany your son/daughter in the room while doing the exam. Discuss the importance of having a short wait time. If your dentist can’t cater to that, find one that will. Also discuss having the same staff at each visit for consistency. If you’re not comfortable with the answers to ANY of your questions, consider another dentist.
2. Practice, practice, practice.
Use their toothbrush or a plastic tooth mirror and get your child use to letting you put it in his/her mouth. Make a fun game out of counting their teeth. Using an electric toothbrush is excellent for getting your child use to the strange sensations in their mouths. Let them practice laying their head in your lap, and letting you count their teeth and look at them with the mirror.
To get your son/daughter off to the right start with a dentist, schedule a few short “happy visits” to start off with. Keep these visits very positive and short. Let your son/daughter get use to the office environment; try out the chair; let the hygienist look in their mouth or count their teeth, check out the suction and water. Use these visits to slowly desensitize your son/daughter to the experience, as well as discover what could potentially be difficult at future visits. Let them pick something out of the toy chest each time they come for a Happy Visit.
4. At our office, we have a fun “story” about going to the dentist, with velcro matching pieces.
Our advice, is to let them use & play with this book each time they come in for their happy visit. Let them do it in the waiting room before they come back. Then, when they finally come in for their cleaning appointment, have them use the same book before they come to the back to be seen.
2. Practice, practice, practice.
Use their toothbrush or a plastic tooth mirror and get your child use to letting you put it in his/her mouth. Make a fun game out of counting their teeth. Using an electric toothbrush is excellent for getting your child use to the strange sensations in their mouths. Let them practice laying their head in your lap, and letting you count their teeth and look at them with the mirror.
3. Let them get their feet wet.
To get your son/daughter off to the right start with a dentist, schedule a few short “happy visits” to start off with. Keep these visits very positive and short. Let your son/daughter get use to the office environment; try out the chair; let the hygienist look in their mouth or count their teeth, check out the suction and water. Use these visits to slowly desensitize your son/daughter to the experience, as well as discover what could potentially be difficult at future visits. Let them pick something out of the toy chest each time they come for a Happy Visit.4. At our office, we have a fun “story” about going to the dentist, with velcro matching pieces.
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Dr. Andrew Bruening & Dr. Carissa Bruening
are General Dentists located in Chesterfield, Missouri.
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