We Love Kids and Kids Love to Visit Us!

It is our goal to offer children a positive dental experience. With parent’s assistance, we will help your child develop the highest appreciation for good dental health. A positive attitude toward regular dental visits formed in childhood has a positive impact for adult dental health in the future.

We understand that for some children visiting the dentist still has a negative stigma associated with it and it can be an unnerving experience. However, Dr Martin has a very calm and patient bed-side manner which helps to make your child feel less unsettled and more at ease during their visit. If your child is still unable to relax, we also offer Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to help ease nervousness.

Our clinical team is experienced with speaking and interacting with children in order to motivate them to go through with treatments. This, combined with children’s activities in the waiting room and a reward for good co-operation, means that most children enjoy their visit to see us!

We often find that if a parent is in the treatment room with their child during treatment, it can become distracting for the child and they may not give us their full attention and co-operation. For this reason we request that parent’s relax in the waiting room, as we have found that this works best.

Upon completion, we will talk to you about the treatment done, explain any issues or areas to improve on for better oral hygiene and answer any questions that you may have. If required, we can even refer you to a good children’s specialist (a pediodontist).

When should I first bring my child to the dentist?

We actually encourage you to bring along your children for ‘get-acquainted’ visits during a your or a sibling’s visit to the dentist. This initial encounter should be as enjoyable as possible for your child, so that when it is their time to go to the dentist, it is seen as an enjoyable experience.

Barring any dental problems, a child’s first appointment should happen around their third birthday. About a year later, your child should come in for their second visit, but this one will include a full examination and cleaning. We may recommend a tasty fluoride treatment and we can take radiographs, if necessary.

After that, you should bring your child in every six months or so for a cleaning and examination. We’ll do our best to make these visits an event your child will look forward to.

Tips for your first child’s visit

• Do take your child along on a sibling or friend’s appointment so they get comfortable with the dentist and the office.
• Do let us know about your child’s special needs or medical problems before your appointment.
• Do play dentist for fun. Count your child’s teeth as you shine a light on them and then let them check out yours.
• Do read your child a book about going to the dentist for the first time.
• Do answer questions, but not in too much detail. Say we are going to look at your child’s teeth and take some pictures with a special camera.
• Do get an early start to avoid rushing and do act calm, cool and collected. Otherwise your child will suspect something is wrong.
• Do schedule the appointment for early in the day as well rested children co-operate better.
• Don’t use bribery or threats and don’t make the visit a very big deal. They’ll know something is up.
• Don’t use scary words like hurt, shot, pull or drill. We have a special comforting vocabulary for explaining dentistry to children.
• Don’t expect perfect behavior. If your child is afraid or shy, that’s okay. If your child throws a tantrum, there’s always another day.
• Don’t make the dentist out to be a bad person. It’ll just guarantee more trouble at the next appointment.