There are two main types of fear of visiting a doctor:

A) Fear of the dental intervention itself. Older children are afraid, for example, of anesthesia. They think that there will be an injection and it will hurt.

B) Fear of the person who performs this intervention: small children sometimes think that the dentist will make them feel bad! And, of course, you need to save yourself from this bad person!

The most likely reason for these fears may be, among others, a negative experience of a previous visit to the dentist. This happens quite often, especially with little ones: adults think “we will hold him, treat him and everything will be fine.” And the child remembers this violence and next time does not even go into the office. Also, some unconscious associations can be the cause of fear, when the treatment is associated with something terrible, unpleasant.

1. How to overcome these fears? And is it possible?

Usually, it is enough to establish contact with a doctor. The dentist should be perceived by the child as a familiar person who can be trusted. Then the child ceases to be afraid and gives the doctor the opportunity to work calmly. And adults, by the way, have the same problems. However, when there are problems in communication: say, a child is simply afraid of any people except mom and dad, he is anxious. And contact is much more difficult to establish. And the fear doesn't go away much longer. But it can also be overcome. That is why the child must be taken to special children's rooms, where dentists with experience in dealing with children are accepted.

2. The promise of parents to "buy a gift" does not always work

We must learn to determine - where is the true, internal motivation, and where is the external incentive. If we say to a child “do you want to be healthy?” It is a reliance on intrinsic, true motivation. Candy, toy - an external stimulus. A child should not go to the doctor for either mom or dad. Although external reinforcement can be used. For example, when you see that a child has done the work of overcoming his anxiety, he succeeded - for a small child this is an achievement. "You are so good - I want to buy you something nice, because you could, did this job." Those. It is not always necessary to promise a gift in advance!

In a child, the desire or unwillingness to “open your mouth for the dentist” is associated with a deep mental mechanism - the ability to endure discomfort. It happens that a mother from the very birth does not allow the child to feel any discomfort: he has not yet had time to think, did not have time to want, be patient, wait - and everything is given to him at once. And at the dentist, one way or another, you have to endure. The bigger the problem, the more patience is needed.

Accordingly, if the child has a very low ability to endure, then treatment is more difficult. After all, he will have to be in a chair for at least 15-20 minutes.

3. How to prepare a child for dental treatment?

It is necessary to take a child to the dentist for the first time not when he already has a toothache. It is necessary to take a child at the age of, for example, one and a half years and show his teeth for the first time, and then every six months: just so that he gets used to this environment, to the doctor. And such a kid also needs to explain everything: to say that we are going to a special person who looks at his teeth and treats his teeth. Show special children's cartoons about what happens to the teeth - why they need to be treated. Or you can say it in your own words. Or draw: first a clean tooth, and then such a “carious monster” that attacks him. And explain that he can be overcome by someone who knows how and who has a special weapon! The child vividly imagines a picture of the fight against evil "monsters" and joins this process with pleasure.

It is very important that the mother of a child, especially a small one, under the age of three, trusts the dentist herself. The baby should feel that the mother is calm, because. young children are very attached to the emotions of their parents. The child takes parental attitude as a basis. Therefore, it is better to look for a doctor who suits you psychologically. Search, try. He may not be very famous, but yours.

By the way, it often happens that mother and child are treated by the same dentist. And here a useful situation is even possible, when the child first sits and watches how the doctor treats his mother, and then sits in the chair himself. This is also a method if the child is calm, not hysterical and not scared.

What else? You can play doctor with your child before visiting the dentist. Especially with preschoolers. They are the most difficult to treat. Up to 3 years, you can still teach and mom can smooth the situation, calm down, and after six - as a rule, these fears in children already go away and in general, the child learns to be patient at school. So, the most problematic thing, from the point of view of communication with doctors and treatment, is children from 3 to 6 years old. If at this age they come to the dentist for the first time and already with a problem, this is a lot of stress. And the tooth hurts, and the situation is unfamiliar. Moreover, if the child did not leave the house much, he saw only relatives, i.e. with poor social adaptation.

SO, the main thing:

1) Create the most comfortable situation for the child to visit the dentist, do not exacerbate stress.

2) It is advisable to choose a convenient time for the child to sleep well, so that he is full, in a good mood. And so that nothing hurts, we mean colds, tummy, etc.

3) Children from 3 years old can be motivated and told why treatment is needed, and after three years it is important to just give a feeling of comfort and safety.

How to prepare a child for this procedure, which is not always pleasant for him? Children from 2.5-3 years old are recommended to visit the dentist regularly, even if the toothache does not bother your baby. The fear of parents is the first reason a child refuses to go to a pediatric dentist. Almost all children experience fear at the dentist, so pediatricians recommend showing the baby to the doctor starting from one year, once every 6 months. Psychological preparation is definitely necessary. For older children, the following argument is suitable: "You go to the dentist - your teeth will be healthy and beautiful." Preparing a child for a visit to the dentist, of course, is the task of parents. This process will proceed much easier and calmer if the first meetings of the baby with the doctor took place already at an early age.

Preparing children for their first dental checkup.

A visit to the dentist by a child from three to six years old is a very problematic procedure for both the patient himself and his parents, associated with unpleasant emotional experiences, even if it is a preventive examination.

Stress prevention at the dental appointment is one of the most pressing problems in dentistry. The ongoing treatment is often accompanied by strong emotional stress. This can provoke various general complications during dental intervention, as well as a further complication of chronic and concomitant diseases of patients.

At the first appointment, it is important to provide the child with qualified dental care. It is very important that the first medical manipulations are painless and short. The child should experience psychological comfort - calm, confident, unobtrusive communication with the doctor.

At preschool age, the strongest and most important source of a child's experiences is his relationships not only with his peers, but also with adults, including doctors.

A child under three years of age is alone with the doctor only in critical cases, more often the child and his parent appear before the doctor. The problem of a child's illness is a common problem for parents, for the doctor and for the child. It can be most effectively solved by combining efforts. With children aged three to seven years, a dental examination can be carried out in the form of a game (offer him to play as a patient or ride in a dental chair), the child should not be tired, raise his voice at him, intimidate.

Parents play an important role in the pediatric dentistry triangle. Almost from the day a child is born, parents shape his behavior. Having good psychological contact with the family is very important for a dentist. There are parents who are more afraid of the dentist than their children, and infect them with their anxiety, at the same time, the positive psychological attitude of the parents affects the well-being of the sick child, enhancing the effect of taking medications. Calmness and positive emotions of adults are transferred to small patients, helping them to cope with the disease.

In order not to lose the confidence of a small patient, one should not say that it will not hurt if a obviously painful procedure is ahead. It is better to warn him that it will hurt a little, but he will cope with it. If a long procedure is ahead, then for some children it is better to perform it in stages. When carrying out preventive measures in kindergarten, it is imperative to tell parents about this at the parent meeting and try to enlist their support. In this case, the work of a dentist is more effective. From the experience of preventive examinations, it has been established that children who are afraid of visiting the dentist have a high intensity of dental caries and a low level of oral hygiene, and in boys these indicators are more pronounced than in girls. Girls are more attentive when teaching individual oral skills. Encouragement and approval contribute to a joyful mood in preschoolers and the emergence of a desire for activity. This effect must be constantly repeated and consolidated, which becomes the task of the doctor and at the same time parents, teachers, educators of preschool institutions. All this creates psychological preparation for interaction with a pediatric dentist, and pediatricians play an important role here, who meet with a child before dentists. Since a visit to the dentist is stressful for a child's body, a family with the right attitude can avoid it. Certain positive successes in preserving and strengthening the mental health of children can be achieved as a result of psychoprophylaxis directly in kindergartens and, then, in primary school.

Conclusions:

Dental prophylaxis aimed at increasing the level of hygiene knowledge, getting rid of false attitudes and negative emotions associated with them, getting acquainted with the approximate algorithm of the doctor’s actions during treatment, creating psychological contact between the doctor and the patient, emotional warmth, creating a safe atmosphere - helps to solve the problem of psycho-emotional stress in children, which leads to an increase in the appeal of the child population to the dentist in order to prevent dental diseases, increase the effectiveness of therapeutic measures, and the quality of dental care for children.

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If the child goes to the doctor for the first time and you yourself are afraid of the dentist, it is better not to tell anything. Parents may try to hide their fear, but children can feel it. How to properly prepare a child for a visit to the dentist? There are several ways.

Preparing your child for a visit to the dentist. Do's and Don'ts

What do you think, if you tell a child that they DO NOT do where he goes: vaccinations, injections, do not take blood from a finger, he will become calmer? I don't think so! Any words about injections and blood can rather cause anxiety (even with the prefix “not”) if any of these procedures caused pain or discomfort earlier. The child may remember this and get upset. This will certainly cause him to distrust the dentist.

What NOT to do before going to the dentist:

• Talk about your bad treatment experience as a child. Unfortunately, each of us has little or no positive stories about going to the dentist in childhood. So let this be our big secret.
• Use the word "drill". If you really want to tell your child what they will do, then approach this tactfully. Try not to be scared. Don't say the dreaded word "drill". Many tools, and that very “drill”, are not so scary as we imagine and tell the child.
• To scare: “If you don’t open your mouth at the doctor, then I’ll take you to the evil dentist! They will keep you there and treat your teeth.” Sometimes the doctor fails to find contact with a small patient. Then you need to change doctors. But the child's behavior may not change. He becomes scared, because you promised to take him to an evil doctor. Therefore, the second attempt to make friends with the dentist may not take place.
• Buy the most expensive gift after the first visit to the dentist. Treatment can take place in several stages. Therefore, it is better to give a treasured toy at the end of a long treatment. However, most often the child receives a gift from the doctor after the first visit.

Helpful Hints:

• Surprisingly, now Instagram helps in preparing a child for a visit to the dentist. Parents show photos of doctors, and it works very well. There are many different videos of the treatment process. Watch them with your kids.
• If you don’t know at all how to prepare the baby, just say that you are going to visit the doctor. He brushes or counts his teeth.
• They said to the child: “They will only look at your teeth”? This means that the first visit should end only with an examination, familiarization with the instruments and preparation for further treatment.
• Some parents don't even know what to say to their child. How to explain to him how to behave at the doctor? Then contact the doctor to whom you plan to go for an appointment. He will definitely guide you.

Modern pediatric dentistry is a fun adventure. It can be interesting for both children and parents, so feel free to make an appointment with your doctor.

The first visit to the dentist is an event that causes more fear and doubt in parents than in children. Having absorbed the anxieties of adults, the child “mirrors” their attitude to the event. Therefore, the topic of the section on how to prepare a child for going to the dentist is much more psychological than medical. Take advantage of this great opportunity to build a positive attitude in children about visiting the dentist.

To do this, you need quite a bit:

1. Your minimum effort
2. Good dental clinic

Tips for taking your child to the dentist for the first time

Often, adults' memories of terrible moments in municipal dentistry or stories told in front of a child on such topics form a persistent fear of the dentist in children. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare for a visit to a dental clinic by a child from early childhood.

Immediately before the appointment and during the examination

Come at the appointed time so that in the corridor, in front of the office, you do not accidentally see crying patients, and even more so do not hear the cries of especially emotional visitors. If you still have to wait, there are designated places for children in specialized clinics with toys and other entertainment - use them.

Do not promise expensive gifts if the child agrees to visit the doctor. Each time, their cost will have to increase - are you ready for this? What if you refuse later?

Don't isolate dental treatment from the rest of your life. What is not allowed at home is not allowed in the medical center. Just as calmly as always, hysterical reactions, throwing objects should be stopped. Do not be touched by capricious antics and tell friends about the doctor's bitten finger with a touch of pride - the child may take this as praise.

Your calm behavior will give the child confidence, and screaming and promising upcoming punishments (if he misbehaves) will upset him even more. Use a support group (dads, siblings, grandparents) if you're not sure you can handle it.

What to do if the child already has a bad experience of previous treatment

These are the most difficult patients for both doctors and parents. Firstly, their oral health may be neglected (both due to poor previous treatment and fear of visits). Often, instead of banal caries, there are both periodontitis and pulpitis. And secondly, it is very difficult for them to adequately carry out the procedures because of the emotional mood. But children are children, and the earlier you try to change their mind, the easier it will be.

To start:

• If it's a doctor or a dental center, change them. Children also have a right to likes or dislikes;
• Find out what the child did not like before - discuss the main points with the new attending physician in advance;
• If certain phrases trigger fear, don't use them. For example, if "smearing with strawberry ice cream" has become a taboo - say "freeze", "attach ice cream", etc.;
• Do not show your weakness, be moderately strict. Consistency and determination will show the little "blackmailer" that there is no turning back;
• Ideally, if family friends or acquaintances have a child who is not afraid of going to the dentist. Go along with them, let your baby look at the daredevil (as a rule, children trust their peers more);
• A positive example would be an older brother or sister, someone who is an authority for the child. Let him show by example how to "not be afraid." Many medical centers provide the opportunity for patients to adapt to the doctor. When, together with the doctor, not in the "terrible" chair, but on a chair, you can examine the instruments, touch them. Learn how to brush your teeth. Children gradually get used to the dentist. For introverted personality types in children, this is especially effective.

Be flexible and wise

The previous tips did not help, and the child's stubbornness in the dentist's office goes into the red zone? Don't push too hard on your baby. "Give in" to him. Let him tell you when to come for treatment. But in this situation, the issue must be resolved to the end and demand the fulfillment of the word given by the child. In pediatric dentistry, numerous visits are treated with understanding. And to a long process of treatment. There is even the concept of "tired of being afraid." After waiting for this moment, you can carry out most of the medical manipulations.

Myths about dentistry for children

Milk teeth, despite their short lifespan, need and should be treated. After all, the first permanent molars appear after four or five years, the change is gradual. And what should a young growing organism use, chewing the necessary carrots, meat, apples, if the temporary ones are lost? A more or less complete set of "adult" teeth grows by the age of 12. Therefore, milk teeth must be protected.

And treat them in a special way:

1. Applying anesthesia always, even in the treatment of caries. You do not need to do injections (shots) in 100% of cases. Sometimes it is enough to apply a gel (anoint with sweet ice cream);
2. If you have to give "injections", a good pediatric dentist - and they work for us - knows how to cleverly hide a miniature syringe from inquisitive children's eyes;
3. General anesthesia is rarely used. As a rule, children do just fine without it;
4. Fillings are colored - like chewing gum. The child will proudly show such a “decoration” to everyone he knows;
5. Even for milk teeth, there are innovative retractors and crowns;
6. Timely removal of a milk tooth or corrected growth of a permanent one will avoid the use of braces in the future;
7. Radiography is also applicable in pediatric dentistry. Strictly according to indications;
8. Children need special materials and medicines (filling, anesthetics, etc.);
9. Simple methods (thematic drawings on the walls, medical clothes with cartoon characters) can remove many fears associated with the fear of "white coats";
10. References to "bad" teeth are usually unfair. There are improper brushing techniques and poor oral hygiene.

For exemplary children who are not afraid to go to the dentist and who are set as an example

We want your children to fall into this category. And for our part, we promise to use all the modern achievements of American dentistry and the great practical experience of children's doctors.

Each of the parents must have faced a problem: how to make the trip to the dentist successful and bring minimal stress not only to the baby, but also to adults. Everything will go well if you follow some rules.

When to visit the dentist?

A visit to the dentist will be much easier and calmer if the first meetings of the baby with the doctor took place already at an early age. The first trip to the dentist should take place already with the eruption of the first teeth. Even though the baby has no problems with his teeth and nothing bothers you, try to come for a preventive examination every three months. The child will remember that visiting the dentist is not scary and will not be capricious when help is really needed.

Tooth Fairy

First of all, it is necessary to explain to the child that visiting a pediatric dentist will help relieve him of pain in his teeth and keep them healthy. Young children best perceive information in the form of a story about fairy-tale characters. You can talk about a good tooth fairy who, with a wave of a magic wand (a special device), will neutralize bad microbes that prevent teeth from growing beautiful.

What will happen?

An interesting and fascinating story about what awaits a child in the office of a pediatric dentist will help to avoid hysteria during the appointment. Try to describe the entire upcoming procedure and the actions of the doctor as clearly as possible.

Tell the baby what he will see in the dental office, what devices the doctor will hold in his hands (mirror, stick (dental probe), water, etc.). One of the main parts of the story is the rule of conduct. Explain how to behave during dental treatment. For example, sit still, open your mouth wide, listen to a good doctor, etc.

Your main task is to help your child understand that dental check-ups and treatment are important procedures that will help keep his teeth healthy and beautiful for a long time. You can also give a couple of “strong” arguments: “When dad and mom were little, they also went to the doctor and therefore they still have healthy teeth!”. Be sure to emphasize that you will always be nearby in the doctor's office. You can also promise something pleasant after a visit to the doctor.

Golden Rules for Parents

If you want your child not to be afraid of the dentist, never tell him that he must brush his teeth to avoid seeing the dentist. Do not use words such as “drill”, “drill”, “pull out”, their negative connotation can scare the child. In the presence of the baby, try not to talk about the pain of dental treatment, and if he asks if it will hurt, do not lie. Telling your child that the doctor won't do anything will undermine their trust in both the doctor and yourself. We can say that: “most likely it will be a little unpleasant”, be sure to compare it with something familiar to the child and remind you of all the good things that will come later.

Another golden rule for visiting the dentist: don't try to make an appointment during the hours when the child usually sleeps. It is early morning, quiet hour or late evening. Do not force your child under any circumstances. It is better to wait out his whims and come another day.

little hero

Going to the dentist requires some preparation. First of all, be sure to thoroughly brush your teeth. If the child does not know how to do this on their own, parents will come to the rescue. Before the upcoming treatment, it is necessary to eat well, since after dental procedures it is usually not recommended to eat food for 2-3 hours.

During the appointment, if possible, be close to the baby. You can hold his hand or just stand nearby so that he can see you. And gentle, encouraging words will give him more courage. After that, do not forget to praise him for his courage and courage, tell relatives and friends about his successful trip to the doctor. Then the child will feel that he has accomplished some feat and will no longer be afraid to treat his teeth.

Without pain and fear!

In the children's department of "City Dentistry", the atmosphere of colorful and cozy rooms will allow the child to relax and trust the kind doctor in a beautiful suit.

For children who cannot overcome their fear of the dental chair, the “City Dentistry” specialists use the “sedation” method to relieve fear and tension. It is a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen, which is a sweet pleasant aroma. The patient inhales it through a special mask and after a while relaxes and calms down. Sedation is a safe, non-addictive technology that clears quickly from the lungs. This method is used only at the request of the parents.

The success of the child's first visit to the dentist and the subsequent necessary treatment depends not only on the doctors, but also on the parents. It is important from an early age to form in a child the right attitude towards the health of their teeth and love for visiting the dentist.