Our office, as well as the The American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP), the American Dental Association (ADA), and the American
Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) all recommend establishing
a "Dental Home" for your child by one year of age.
Children who have a dental home are more likely to receive
appropriate preventive and routine oral health care.
The Dental Home is intended to provide a place other than the Emergency Room for parents.
You can make the first visit to the dentist enjoyable and positive. If old enough, your child should be informed of the visit and told that the dentist and their staff will explain all procedures and answer any questions. The less to-do concerning the visit, the better.
It is best if you refrain from using words around your child that might cause unnecessary fear, such as "needle", "shot", "pull", "drill" or "hurt". The office makes a practice of using words that convey the same message, but are pleasant and non-frightening to the child.
Parents are always welcome to accompany their children
at all appointments at Wild Smiles! We have found over the
years this is important. Not only does this help your
child get started in dentistry but also allows our parents to
gain trust and confidence in our doctors and staff. When
parents are trusting and confident, this translates to their
children. When parents don’t worry, children don’t worry!
Our goal is to get your child so trusting and confident in their
ability to handle all aspects of dentistry that it makes no
difference whether a parent is present or not! This
confidence and trusts happens when it happens. This is
something we have to earn. But we do know from our 24
years of experience, that it will happen!
We strive to make each and every visit to our office a fun one!
