Dentistry for children

We try to build a favorable relationship with children in our clinic, especially for younger patients and those who visit the dentist for the first time. 

We do not force the child to be treated. We try to achieve a favorable result through discussions both with the child and with his parents. 

Scientific studies have shown that children over the age of 3 respond better to dental treatment when their parents aren't in sight. For this reason, in our clinic, we ask parents to wait for their children in the waiting room.

For our youngest patients, the first visit is usually more like an introduction with a clinic and the doctor, usually an oral examination and consultation is performed. After the first successful dental visit, young patients are issued a Dental Fairy Certificate to promote the child's positive attitude towards the dentist's visit. 

For older children, at first visit, a full oral examination is usually performed, which includes diagnostic x-rays also dental photographs (extra and intra oral) can be taken, as well as impressions of diagnostic study models, a treatment plan is drawn up.

Exceptions are acute patients, then the primary task is to provide first aid and prevent pain to the patient.

Children are advised to visit a dentist and hygienist at least once a year (provided that everything is repaired). 

Adolescents are asked to visit the dentist in time.

Sometimes parents unknowingly scare children before a visit to the dentist. Often, speedy, ill-considered phrases can frighten a child so that he or she avoids visiting the dentist in any circumstances. Līga Kroniņa, a certified pediatric dentist from the RSU Institute of Dentistry, advises on how to make it more sensitive for a child to announce that he/she will have to visit a dentist and how to tell him or her what will happen during the visit. 

Parents are usually worried about the child's upcoming visit to the dentist and thus try to encourage the little ones. However, this statement only reflects the parents' fears and is too abstract for the child. He does not perceive the information, but feels the fears of his parents and worries with him before he goes to the dentist. It is best if the child is accompanied by a parent or relative who is not afraid of the dentist and is able to perceive dental treatment in a neutral way, without excessive emotions. 

Parents mean that the dentist will not do anything special or painful for the child. In turn, the child takes what is said literally and understands that he will only have to go to the dentist. Also, opening your mouth and showing your teeth to a child means doing something, so in the dentist's office he may start to get anxious when the dentist wants to check his teeth. It is best to tell the child before the visit that he will simply have to sit in a chair, talk to the dentist, then open his mouth and let his teeth count with a mirror. If it is a preventive visit, it will also end the child's responsibilities. 

Parents think that the child will be too scared if he is told before the visit to the dentist that the tooth will need to be repaired. The child perceives what is said directly and is ready to just open his mouth and show his teeth. Sometimes that's really all a child needs to do. However, if the parents take the child to the dentist with a sore tooth, such preparation will not be appropriate. Because it is often difficult for parents to determine for themselves whether a tooth will need to be filled or extracted, it is best to tell the child that the tooth will need to be treated, but only the dentist will tell you whether to fill or remove it. 

Parents know what dental tools are, what they do with them and what they feel like. On the other hand, when children hear it, they most often imagine a huge, painful "syringe" and a drill, which resembles a father's tool for making holes in the wall, and is frightened. It is best for a pre-school child to show and tell in a language he or she understands what will happen in the dentist's office. It is often much easier for a child under the age of 5 or 6 to prepare for a tooth repair if a "syringe" or "mosquito" is called a "sleeping herb" that drips on the tooth to make it fall asleep, while drills and a car are called "tooth showers" and brushes ’, which do not‘ drill ’but‘ wash the toothpicks ’out of the tooth. 

When parents say - you won't feel anything, you mean it - it won't hurt you, but the child understands exactly that he really won't feel anything. However, the child feels numbness in the lip, noise coming from the vacuum cleaner, and vibration from the machine. Therefore, the child may be anxious and frightened because he is not prepared for such an experience. It is important to talk to your dentist before treatment about exactly how the treatment will go and how to better explain it to your child. 

Parents and grandparents think that children will appreciate the difference between technology in the past and today. Children, on the other hand, do not perceive the difference between the past and the present and only understand that dental treatment is something terrible. It would be better if parents skipped the first part of this story and emphasized the second, the good that is in the office - responsive doctors and nurses, modern and beautiful cars, bright cabinets, play corners. 

Such parents try to encourage the child to go to the dentist. However, parents need to be real. As with an ENT, a gastroenterologist, a gynecologist, or, ultimately, a vaccine, not all medical procedures are pleasant or completely painless. The thresholds for children's sensitivity and pain are also different. A child under the age of 4.5 does not distinguish between pain and a feeling of pressure, so even a dentist's touch on a tooth can be perceived as pain. It is important to prepare the baby for the fact that sometimes there may be discomfort and a little pain (but the knee also hurts when it is bitten and then cared for), but in general the treatment will be tolerable.