First dentist appointment for children?

[SilverMoon010]

When should you begin to take your children to the dentist? I have a 2-year-old boy and there is no way I can see my 2-year-old sitting still in a dentist chair for more than 3 seconds. We brush his teeth every morning and night, so I don't see that it would be necessary this young, but I don't know. I read somewhere that you should start taking them as soon as they start getting teeth??? Really???

[luv-my-boys]

we started taking the boys when they had few teeth, but my kids get teeth early on so I would say under 2. A really good pediatric dentist knows how to work with kids, in fact were on our way shortly to see ours and he is awesome. He is very patient and has yrs (like 30 yrs) working as a kids dentist so know all the tricks of the trade. We slowly eased the kids into a cleaning schedule. The first visits were more like a check and see how their teeth were coming in and maybe a slightly flossing and clean the visible/easily reached spots that they'd tolerate, he never forces the kids to sit longer than they want, some visits they get a whole cleaning some they dont. In my book thats better than nothing. We still brush/floss their teeth daily so I just want to make sure if there are any problems that they are caught early. Dental problems run in DH's family plus we have a son with some SN that might cause dental issues so we keep a close eye on it.

[Dov'sMom]

I started taking my kids at around 2. First I'd have them come with me and then Dh to watch a cleaning. The dentist was ready to let them climb up and open their mouths at the end of our appointments. Then a week or two later we took them. (DS2 got to see me, then Dh, then DS1, each a week apart before his first appt.) We found that way there was really no anxiety. Also, the kids are welcome to jump out of hte chair whenever they want.

One of my kids wanted me to hold him halfway through so I lay down in the dentist's chair with him in my lap. It was no problem.

[Dov'sMom]

Oh, and I'll add that it's really useful to have them accustomed to the dentist in case of problems, which could include injuries even if you're being really careful with brushing.

Maybe a month after DS1's first appointment, he started crying one night about his mouth hurting. He kept it up most of the next day, saying it hurt when he bit down, so we scheduled an emergency visit to the dentist. (Boy, did I feel guilty about my 2 yo having such a bad cavity he was crying!) Turns out we hadn't been good enough about rinsing his mouth thoroughly after his asthma medicine and he had a sore at the back of his gum, not a cavity. But I shudder to think how scary it could have been for him, all the equipment and lights and the strange dentist sticking his hands in his mouth, if he hadn't at least accompanied me in the past.