Having some tips on finding a good pediatric dental clinic will make the process a lot easier. It can also mean less stress if you have a dental emergency and you need to get dental care fast for your child or teen.
Best pediatric dental office
When people have dental issues they begin to immediately look for the best pediatric dental office in Miami FL for dental treatment. While doing so, you are likely to come across a whole host of dental services offered by board certified pediatric dentistry offices and oral health providers. Then you might be confused by the wide variety of pediatric dental office testimonials and advertisements that you see.
But before you schedule an appointment at your local dental office or children’s dental facility, something you should ask yourself is how do you know if the office offers gentle treatment dental care for children and are these pediatric dentists really the ones that are best for my child? Are there any tips I should know before taking my little one to the dentist? And why are kids so afraid of dentists in Miami in the first place?
Before we go through these top tips for finding a great dental office, let’s take a look at what the experts of pediatric dental medicine have to say on the topic of best pediatric dental office.
Pediatric oral care is a serious issue. According to research, in 2007 about half a million school aged children missed at least one school day in California in 2007 because of dental problems (Ramos-Gomez FJ et al.,2010).
Recent increases in the prevalence of dental caries (cavities) in young children highlight the need for more effective pediatric dental care for all children (Ramos-Gomez FJ et al.,2010).
Part of the infant oral care initiative includes the early establishment of dental homes and preventive programs as part of the pediatric medical management model (Ramos-Gomez FJ et al.,2010).
One of the first tips before you ever take your child to a pediatric dentist for a treatment could be to simply take your child there for a visit. Many dentists in Miami offer free consultations allowing you, and your little one, the freedom to be able to meet the staff, see the facility, and learn a little bit about the treatment.
One of the things that can often times be most frightening to a child is fear of the unknown. Having adults there that they know, places that they have gotten a chance to visit, and an environment they are more familiar with can help take away a bit of that fear of the unknown and make it far easier for your little one to get the treatment they need without worry.
A major tip for when you do get there is to take a look at how the office doesn’t just treat you but also how it treatsyour little one both directly and indirectly. Is the office filled with games, toys, and appropriate reading material, and are all of these things clean, functional, and ready for you? Coral Gables offices that have clean toys, new magazines, and updated books and games are offices that take the gentle treatment comfort of their smallest clients seriously. An office that has grimy or dirty facilities, broken or dysfunctional toys and magazines that have already been filled out, torn, and degraded is a facility that sees their littlest clients as secondary and less important.
What is pediatric dentistry in Miami? Best pediatric dental office near me
One very common question people may ask is what is pediatric dentistry? Simply put a pediatric dentistry clinic is a dental office with a specialization in working with infants, children, and teens. This may not seem like a lot but the truth is to be able to get a pediatric dental certification takes an additional several years of work after the initial doctor of dental training.
While all pediatric dentists are certified dentists, not all dentists have the additional accreditation and certification to be able to work with children. The unique dental needs of children require that they must have significantly more training to be able to spot issues that are unique to the development of adolescent teeth and oral health care.
How do you prepare your child for their first visit to the dentist? Pediatric dental offices near me
Preparing your child for their first real South Miami dental visit hopefully did include a previous dental visit. Not a formal one, just one to help make them feel more comfortable with the staff, let them know what’s happening, and even make it something they look forward to. Assume your child has already had that experience and this first real visit is going to be significantly simpler. There is not a significant amount of prepping you need to do.
It starts with letting your child know that this is important part of protecting their health, and that in many cases that first visit is usually just a gentle treatment checkup and cleaning anyway. Then let them know that they’re going to get some really cool pictures and x-rays of their teeth and that this is a fun experience to look forward to. These are all great ways of helping to make that first experience a great one.
One of the things pediatric dentists learn is how to provide expert customer service to children so that children feel safe, and that in many cases the children even enjoy the dental visit.
Why are most little kids afraid of dentists? Best pediatric dental office Coral Gables
Most little children are afraid of dentists in Miami simply out of fear of the unknown. When children hear about things like doctors or medicine, and then combine that in their heads with a simple fear of the unknown it’s easy for their brain to run wild and imagine all sorts of terrible things. After all, a child knows that a doctor is to help sick or injured people and that pain is not fun. If you are not feeling pain now then perhaps the doctor is the one who causes it?
While of course this is not true, this is oftentimes the type of logical reasoning that one can expect from young children. This can unfortunately be compounded by friends, and often family, who might have fun telling scary, but untrue, stories about what happens when individuals go to the South Florida dental office. Instead of relying on anecdotal and personal driven narratives though, dispelling that fear with a practical visit before any treatment is a great way to give your child a major advantage in overcoming that fear.
What can orthodontic treatment solve? Best pediatric dental office near me
Orthodontic treatment solves a lot of bite issues or straightens crooked teeth. It helps protect your child’s overall dental health from uneven wear or jaw pain. A South Florida orthodontic visit will help your child get an evaluation for whether they need braces or if other orthodontic treatments will work better. And, it gives your orthodontist a baseline for what treatment might be needed in the future.
A simple tip when your children ask why they have to go to a dentist or orthodontist since they feel fine is just simply to let them know that it is not because they are sick that they need to go, it’s to help make sure that they always stay well. Then tell them that visits are not a punishment, there’s something fun or something they can look forward to.
By turning a visit to the dental office from an unknown frightening experience to a fun one filled with anticipation you can help make that first trip to the dentist Miami FL one your child will both remember and enjoy.
Reference:
Ramos-Gomez, F. J., Crystal, Y. O., Ng, M. W., Crall, J. J., & Featherstone, J. D. (2010). Pediatric dental care: prevention and management protocols based on caries risk assessment. Journal of the California Dental Association, 38(10), 746–761.