The first visit to the dental practice

The best first appointment is one at which nothing happens. The child looks around, gets to know the sounds and smells, perhaps sits in the chair, receives some praise and goes again. Anyone who only comes with pain associates the practice with exactly that — and that association often lasts for decades.

When

The recommendation is: around the time the first tooth comes through, so roughly in the sixth to eighth month of life, at the latest by the first birthday. After that comes the series of preventive appointments that the health insurer covers.

That is considerably earlier than many people assume. The reason is not the tooth but the advice: diet, bottle, dummy, fluoride and brushing technique are discussed while the habits are still forming — not once they are already fixed.

How it works

With a small child usually on the parent's lap: knee to knee with the dentist, the child lying with its head towards her. The teeth that are there, the mucosa and the development of the jaw are looked at. Brushing technique, the amount of toothpaste and diet are discussed. A fluoride varnish can be applied if there are teeth.

With older children, counting, showing, staining and practising take place. Most practices work on the principle of “tell, show, do”: first it is explained, then the instrument is shown on the hand, and only then used in the mouth. That removes a large part of the uncertainty.

What parents can do beforehand

• Mention the appointment in passing, do not build it up into an event.
• Do not use negatives. “It won't hurt” contains the word that is the issue. Better: “The dentist is going to count your teeth.”
• Do not threaten with the dentist — not over sweets, not over brushing. Anyone who introduces the practice as a punishment makes the later treatment harder.
• Do not recount your own bad experiences. Children take on their parents' attitude remarkably precisely.
• Do not promise a reward in advance. It signals that something unpleasant is coming.
• Choose a morning appointment, when the child is rested.

And: your own tension is passed on. Anyone who dislikes going to the dentist themselves may say so to the practice beforehand — the appointment will then be conducted accordingly.

When there is already fear

Then it is not a question of persuasion but of time. Several short appointments without treatment, at each of which a small step succeeds, get further than one long one at which everything is to be dealt with. Many practices have a focus on children and take this time.

For children facing an extensive treatment who cannot cooperate with it, there is nitrous oxide, sedation or, in rare cases, treatment under general anaesthesia. That is not a defeat but, in the right situation, the gentler solution — a child who is overwhelmed during a treatment often cannot be persuaded back for years afterwards.