A child's first dental visit
Without guidance from a medical doctor or a dentist, some parents do not get early dental care for their kids as recommended. More than 15 percent of parents who were not told by someone in the healthcare field when their kid’s first dental visit should occur, think kids should wait until after age four for their first visit. This data is from C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital Poll on Children’s Health.
The official recommendation is to begin visits at about age one, which is when teeth start to come in. This is essential for kid’s health care. These early visits detect and treat early childhood decay and educate parents. With good guidance from a doctor or dentist, parents understand that the first visit to a dentist should be at about age one. Without this guidance, some parents use family and friends for advice.
Over 50 percent of parents in the poll did not get their advice from a doctor or a dentist regarding when to start dental visits. Some reasons given for lack of a dental visit by age one were the kid is too young, the kid’s teeth are OK, and the kid would be frightened.
But kid’s dental visits help parents with correct brushing, the importance of avoiding sugar and not to put children to bed with a bottle. The parents who said their kid’s teeth are healthy are not qualified to make that assessment. They may not notice decay until it has become significant and may require the tooth to be removed. This is very bad since the baby teeth are required to maintain space for the permanent teeth to come in.
Parents usually get good guidelines on timing for their well-child visits to the doctor, but they get much less guidance on when to bring their kid to the dentist for that critical first appointment. That appointment can set the stage in their child’s mind for a lifetime of good oral health care, or a lifetime of decay and tooth loss.
Remember, parents, you must be your child’s health advocate until they are old enough to be their own advocate. The habit to take care of their teeth starts very early in life.
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Dr. Donald Johnson founded Heartfelt Family Dental in Coeur d’Alene to help people live free with no limits! He treats patients of all ages—from 1 to 101. His office is at 114 W. Neider Ave., near Costco. The website for more information is www.HeartfeltDental.com and the office phone is (208) 667-4551. Schedule an appointment for a free consultation today!