Many parents wait until there is a problem before taking a child to the dentist. Ideally, the first visit should happen much earlier, it sets up a lifetime of easy, fear-free dental care.
When to start
The first visit is recommended by the child's first birthday, or within six months of the first tooth appearing. Early visits are short and gentle, mostly about checking development and coaching parents on cleaning tiny teeth.
Making it stress-free
Choose a morning appointment when your child is rested. Avoid words like 'pain' or 'injection'. Read a fun book about visiting the dentist beforehand, and let the visit be about meeting a friendly doctor, not fixing something.
Protecting little teeth
In our sweet-heavy local diet, limit sticky sweets and juices between meals, brush twice daily with a rice-grain of fluoride toothpaste, and ask about protective sealants once the back teeth come in. Baby teeth matter, they guide the adult teeth into place.