The American Dental Association recommends taking your child to the dentist by their first birthday or within 6 months of their first tooth erupting.
Dr. Angela Douglas at Douglas Family Dentistry says early dental exams are just as much about helping parents know what to expect as they are about preventive care:
“Our first year to three years, the exams can look a little different. It’s going to be with mom or dad, whoever, and we’re going to be working with them, guiding them on things to expect: when teeth should erupt, if something were to happen, if we were to bump into something, knock out a little tooth. Things to expect like that.”
For many children, the dentist’s office can be a scary place. Douglas says starting early, before major problems arise, can make dentist appointments an easier time for everyone.
“…Even getting them used to what the dental office looks like and our fun little tools—It makes it more of an exciting and fun experience. Then if we come in, we’ve got a toothache, we’ve got a tooth that’s already hurting, and we have to do a big procedure, and everything’s new, and the pain makes it stressful. Parents are stressed out too when that happens, so it just makes it that much harder on the child.”
By getting your child on the right track early, you can help them get more comfortable with dental care and build habits that will last far beyond baby teeth.
“After they hit [age] one, let’s go ahead and get something scheduled, and it’s probably going to be something real quick where we just have a knee-to-knee exam, or we just take a look, make sure everything’s coming in, and talk to mom and dad about a lot of things. And then it’s also great to bring them in with their cleanings so that they see what a regular cleaning looks like. They get the kids used to it—everything is not painful or scary; it’s fun!”
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