Your Child’s First Dental Visit

What to expect from your first trip to our office

Just like trips to the pediatrician, visits to the pediatric dentist are crucial for your growing child’s health. These first visits provide you with the opportunity to get to know Dr. Jaynes and his team, while also giving us the chance to meet you and your child. We will take a full medical history, answer any and all of your questions, and plan together to ensure your child’s excellent oral health.

Whether your child is an infant, toddler, pre-teen, or adolescent, we want to know how we can best meet their needs. Our entire team is devoted to dentistry for kids, and we offer all the preventative care and interventions your child is likely to need. Most importantly, we are compassionate, understanding, and gentle. Every member of our team is a professional who loves working with children and making certain they have healthy, beautiful smiles for life.

The information below will help you understand what to expect from our pediatric dental practice and what will happen at your first appointment. Questions are always encouraged, either in-person during a visit or by a phone call. We are thrilled to have your child as a patient, and welcome to our dental office!

Infant Appointments

When should you first bring your child to the dentist? This query is one of the most common questions we receive. The answer is that the American Dental Association (ADA) and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentists (AAPD) encourage parents to have their child’s initial dental visit by their first birthday.

However, you can certainly schedule your appointment earlier than this milestone. The first baby teeth typically begin to erupt at four to seven months of age. Some children may get their first teeth as early as three months. You can make an appointment as soon as the first tooth appears, particularly if you have questions or you are encountering problems.

During your infant’s first appointment, we will perform a gentle evaluation of their teeth and mouth. This thorough evaluation is done to ensure that everything is going well, and there are no issues. This visit is also a chance for your infant to become comfortable with the surroundings at our office and meet our team. Of course, you are welcome to make any inquiries, and we’ll share our plan for your next visit.

We understand that many adults do not enjoy visiting their own dentists and that dental anxiety is a very real condition, but we always advise parents to be mindful of how they talk about the dentist to their child. If you present dental visits as fun occasions, it will make for a more positive and productive time for your child.

Please let us know if your child has special needs, and we will do our utmost to accommodate them. We love helping kids of all ages, and we look forward to providing you and your child with the best experience possible. Remember, we are here to serve and help you.

X-rays

X-rays are an invaluable part of dental diagnostics. This tool allows us to see what is going on in your child’s mouth and detect problems that would otherwise remain hidden until they worsen. We may perform x-ray diagnostics on your child during their first visit so that we can establish a baseline for their oral anatomy and health as well as check for any issues.

Dental x-rays are both a cost-effective diagnostic and an excellent way to get ahead of potential problems. Our team uses x-rays as a safe, quick, and economical way of evaluating the condition of your child’s oral cavity and eliminating obstacles before they become more severe. Additionally, since we are able to detect issues early with x-rays, we are often able to address these problems before more costly treatment is required.

We understand that many parents have concerns about their child’s exposure to x-rays. However, dental x-rays are extremely safe. Not only do we use the lowest effective dose when performing x-rays on your child, but we also take multiple measures to protect them. These measures include lead shielding, spacing the interval of x-ray evaluations, and employing the latest technology.

The dangers presented by dental and periodontal diseases far exceed the hazards of dental x-rays. X-rays are the best non-invasive diagnostic method for evaluating your child’s oral health, identifying disease and structural issues, and planning treatments. Please feel free to approach us with any questions or concerns about dental x-rays or any other aspect of your child’s dental care.

Sedation Dentistry

Although we consistently go the extra mile to ensure the comfort and relaxation of our patients, we understand that a trip to the dentist can make many children uneasy. Additionally, many of our patients have special needs and struggle to sit still for extended periods. Some dental procedures are also more involved than others and require more than a local anesthetic. We offer intravenous (IV) sedation on a case-by-case basis to put patients at ease and promote their safety during dental treatments. All sedation is administered by a dental anesthesiologist.

IV sedation is not the same as the general anesthesia you receive during major surgery. Instead of putting our patients completely asleep and under, IV sedation produces a relaxation effect. Your child will fall asleep on their own and have no memory of the procedure once they awaken.

The IV sedation we provide is safe and effective. We will monitor your child closely throughout the process and allow them time to awaken after their treatment. They will be groggy and disoriented for a few hours following their sedation, but IV sedation can be extremely beneficial for children who experience severe dental anxiety or need to undergo invasive procedures.

Please contact us if you are interested in the possibility of IV sedation for your child. IV sedation can allow them to receive the dental care they need without fear. We will be glad to discuss your child’s case with you and provide answers to all of your questions.