Your Child’s First Visit

Ideally, we like to see children for their first visit soon after their baby teeth start erupting, and children need to see a dentist regularly by age two or three.

We realise that your child might feel a little apprehensive when first seeing a dentist and do everything possible to create a safe, warm and welcoming dental home where we can help them grow up with a healthy, confident smile.

During your child’s initial visit, we will want to review their medical history and any dental history to gain a clear picture of their overall health and ensure that any treatments we recommend are safe and appropriate. We will need to look inside your child’s mouth gently, and a very young child can remain sitting on their parent’s lap. Older children will often enjoy a ride in the dental chair.

We may also need to take digital dental x-rays. Digital x-rays are very safe, emitting extremely low radiation levels compared with film x-rays, and the benefits far outweigh the minimal risks. Digital x-rays are viewable immediately on the screens in our treatment rooms, allowing us to see areas of your child’s mouth invisible to the naked eye, including contact areas between teeth, tooth roots, and importantly, teeth that have yet to erupt.

Once we have all this information, we can review their dental health with you. We also use this information to devise your child’s custom preventive dental care plan. The plan will show how frequently we suggest they should visit us for regular checkups and cleans. If your child requires any dental treatment, we will explain each procedure carefully, and we always welcome questions.

Dental education is an important part of our practice, and we can work with first-time parents, showing you how to clean your child’s brand-new teeth effectively and gently. In addition, we can discuss which toothbrush and toothpaste to use and show you how to floss between your child’s teeth as more emerge and start to contact each other.

If your child is a little older when they first visit us, we can work with them directly. Our dental team are experienced in explaining why good dental care is important, using age-appropriate terms children can easily understand.