If you’ve maintained a regular relationship with your general dentist in Long Island, then you already know just how important those scheduled visits can be. A good dentist, with records of your dental work and activity, is the best investment you can make in healthy, strong gums and teeth. But if you’re now raising a family, you’ll have to start thinking about your children. Of course, at birth, there won’t be any serious consideration about dental work as a child doesn’t have teeth. But once those teeth start coming in, what do you do?
Familiarity Is Important
Some people feel that because there’s no set of teeth present in a child’s mouth, there’s no need to bring that child to the dentist. But if you want to establish a regular relationship with a dentist that keeps things peaceable for everyone, it’s not a bad idea to get your child familiar with the dental experience before any major issues come up.
It will vary from one child to the next, but in general, once you start seeing the first tooth erupt in a child’s mouth, think about taking your child for his or her first visit to your general dentist in Long Island, or consider selecting a new one at this time if you like. It’s generally recommended that you wait no later than two years of age to bring a child to a dentist, though even as early as six months is acceptable.
Your first visit to a dentist with your child is really more about establishing a foundation than any serious at-tempt to solve a dental problem. You want to start the dental records for your child early, and, more important-ly, you want your child to be familiar with this process. The best way to do this is to introduce your child to his or her new dentist, and the dental process when there is “nothing on the line.”
That is, the child can get comfortable with sitting in the chair, with meeting and interacting with the dentist, and with having his or her mouth examined when there are no stakes involved. If this is a harmless, interesting expe-rience for your child, this lays out a positive groundwork on which you can forge a good family relationship. Your child’s first experience with a dentist was not based on fear, discomfort or confusion and this plays an important long-term role in your child’s overall attitude to dentists and dental health.
Make It Regular
Once your child has been acclimatized to your general dentist in Long Island, keep the exposure going. If you are closely monitoring your child’s dental care activities, and keeping his or her teeth and gums healthy, then a regularly scheduled check-up every six months will be a brief visit to confirm that everything is still okay.
This will be especially important at catching problems early. If tooth decay from eating too many sweets, or gum disease start to set in, these six-month check-ups can make a big difference in catching the issue before it turns into something much bigger and more expensive!
