Building A Positive relationship Between The Dentist And Your Child
Finding a dentist Mackay that you feel confident and comfortable with for yourself and your family is really important. We all know that the dentist Mackay can be a scary place for children and therefore finding a dentist that is friendly, informative, and calm is essential. With this in mind, we’re going to take a look at all the ways in which parents can help their children form better relationships with the dentist.
Why Is The Dentist So ‘Scary’?
This is a super interesting question which, when we start to unpack, we see is informed by a few different factors.
Firstly, the way in which dentists are portrayed in the media, whether this be via television, cinema, or even books, can often result in a negative perception of the dental experience. The dentist has long been painted as a painful and scary place where people in white aprons use scary instruments to look into your mouth. And, whilst producers aren’t actively out to create a scary image of dentists, they end up doing exactly that, as they’re indirectly placing a negative connotation of the dentist in the audience’s mind.
The second area of focus is the feelings and thoughts we may inherit from loved ones and their personal experiences of the dentist. We’re constantly absorbing the experiences of others and, when someone we know has a bad experience of something, we take it all in and it can sometimes become part of our own thought process.
Finally, in the past, the dentist has been a much tricker place for patients; before we had fancy tools and more experienced skills, the dentist could be a really uncomfortable experience. But, we’ve come a very long way since then and it’s time we adjusted our thought patterns accordingly.
Where Do Children Fit In To This?
Children are the future, and what we should want as a society is to raise children who are keen to go to the dentist and understand the health benefits of doing so. Unfortunately, children are more susceptible to all the factors stated above and no more so than that of absorbing other people’s opinions.
How To Help Our Children
Helping your little ones really doesn’t need to be complex at all, it can be as simple as using positive language about the dentist. An example might be “I’m so pleased I’m going for my check up tomorrow as looking after my teeth is really important to me”. This may feel forced or unnatural; however, by planting those little seeds positively will make such a difference when it’s their turn to get in the chair.
Another practical tool which really helps is to practise visiting the dentist at home before going. Having anyone use foreign objects to look into your mouth at any age isn’t necessarily pleasant; and even more so if you’re young and unable to understand the importance. Practising a visit to the dentist can include using a cotton bud to practise opening and closing their mouth.
DISCLAIMER
All treatments have risks. Ask for individual consultation with one of our practitioners to ensure that the treatment is right for you.
