We generally recommend seeing kids 6 months after eruption of the first tooth or 1 year of age whichever comes first.
The first visit is just a check and to chat with the parents and also for the child to see and become aware of the environment. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Tooth decay spreads more rapidly in children 🤨 as the enamel is thinner than adult enamel. Therefore, it’s very important to make sure YOU yes you the parent 🤗 brush their teeth and YOU yes you again 🤗 lol floss their teeth.
We are all busy parents and the time before bedtime 😴 is challenging I get it as a working parent myself but try your best to brush and floss their teeth.
I see so many kids and families where the parents say that their young kids as young as 3-4 years of age brush their own teeth.
As much as it’s great for them to do so and get used to it you cannot rely on them doing a great job at that age. Children don’t have the dexterity that adults have and often half of the teeth don’t get brushed. If you want to let them brush let them, but go in after they’re done and brush their teeth again. If you find it hard to floss their teeth pick up a bag of floss sticks next time you’re in the grocery store as that may be a great help.
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As a dentist it’s my job to care for their teeth and fix them but frankly it’s not a great feeling to put a kid through local anaesthetic etc. Having said that we do treat all ages of kids and very rarely refer to a pediatric office. Only reason your child really needs to go to a specialist office is if they are highly uncooperative or unable to sit still in the chair. Most kids in my experience are quite remarkable in the dental chair 😃.
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And remember the habits they learn when they’re young is more likely to stay with them as they get older. ✨