Dentist

[EJTmommy]

Not sure if this is the place to post...but at what age did you first take your child to the dentist.  I know the AAP recommends 1 yo now but my dentist said 3 was fine. Just wondering other experiences.

Thanks!

[Snapdragon]

we brought our 20 month old to the dentist about a month ago at 19 months- I think doing it htis early is a good idea just to rule out possible problems.

[sunwise]

I've decided to take my DS to the dentist in January, when he will be about 16.5 months old. My pediatrician doesn't push going at this age (although she is supportive), but DH has quite a few teeth problems due to genetics, so I just want to get my son checked out to make sure everything with his teeth is OK so far.

[4midablemama]

Our dentist also said three is plenty early enough, so that's when both my kids started seeing her. 

[Peony]

Both the pediatric and our dentist do not see children before 3 unless there are issues. As soon as my kids turn 3, I take them in every 6 months for a cleaning. We were seeing a different dentist when DD1 was little, I took her when she was a little over 2, maybe 2 and 4 or 5 months, she refused to let them do anything but take a quick peek into her mouth. They said to come back when she was 3. Literally days after she turned 3 I noticed decay in her mouth and we had to go the whole pediatric dental/sedation route because there was so much but considering how she acted just a few months before, there really wasn't any other way to go about it. 

[andromedajulie]

I took DD2 (now 16 mo) at about 12 months because she had a weird gum flap (just a teething issue and normal)... it was very positive and we will now go every 6 months.

I didn't take DD1 (now 9) until she was about 3, and she has had a lot of early cavities. I am not advocating one way or another, nor do I know what caused the cavities, but I felt bad about that and wondered if it was due to a lack of early dentist visits.

[IngaAnne]

Our dentist starts seeing kids at age 1. They do not get a full dental cleaning or x-rays at that age (at least at our dentist). The point is to get the child comfortable with the setting ahead of time and to get a heads up on any issues. At our visit my son was barely 2. The dentist looked in his mouth for issues, pointed out any brushing deficiencies (back of the bottom front teeth for us), and brushed fluoride on his teeth. Our ped recommends we visit the dentist by age 3.