Dental fear in children

I came across an article in Dentistry Today that discusses the origin of dental fear in children. You can check out the full article here. The article refers to a study appearing in the International Journal of Pediatric Dentistry that found that fears in parents are often found to be shared with their children. This means that fear appears to be included in the number of learned behaviors that we, as parents, teach our children.  If your child has never been to the dentist, your words and attitudes are shaping their expectation of the visit. They may have no negative associations with the dentist outside of the words you use to describe it.

A learned behavior

Since we can see that our children look to us to learn how to respond to different situations, we can learn better model how to approach and react in potentially stressful situations. As noted in the study, one key finding was that it is primarily the reaction of the father that had the most impact on the child’s behavior. When the father showed stress or fear, the child mirrored the behavior more intensely than when the same was displayed by the mother.  This is an important key to remember when discussing your child’s upcoming dental appointment and setting the tone for what to expect. At Treetop Pediatric Dentistry, we rely on parents as an important and essential part of our dental team.

The Parent’s Role in Your Child’s Dental Visit

We’ve established that parents play a key role in the child’s dental visit, so let’s get more specific on some things you can and should do before your trip to the dentist, and some things you maybe shouldn’t do.

1. Talk to your child about the dentist, make the trip an adventure. Use positive words that your child can understand to explain what we will do when we go to the visit. “Dr. Brandon will look, count, and clean your teeth.” Keep in mind that a pediatric dentist is the ‘pediatrician of dentistry’, and is a specialist in treating the dental needs of children and the related psychology and behaviors.
2. Schedule a complimentary “Happy Visit” for your child to come check out our office and meet me and the Team. Your child will get to see some of my cool dental tools, take a tour of the office, and sit in the chair without the pressure of ‘the real thing’.
3. Check out some of my videos on “Dr. Brandon’s YouTube channel” to see some of the tools and equipment that will be in the office.
4. Don’t use negative words like shot, pull, hurt to describe their trip to the dentist.These words aren’t allowed in our office at all!

What now?

If you feel like your child has some inherited fear of the dentist, give us a call! We can give you some resources and other ideas to help prepare your little one for their first trip to the dentist. At Treetop Pediatric Dentistry, our mission is to serve the oral health  needs of children in a fun and engaging environment, and in fact, we specialize in it! We look forward to the opportunity to serve your family.

-Dr. Brandon