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30 June 2026 · 4 min read
Bringing a child for a first dental visit
When to come, what we do, and the one sentence parents say that makes the appointment harder.
Bring them earlier than you think. The recommendation is a first visit around the first birthday, or whenever the first teeth appear. Almost nobody does this, and the usual first visit happens years later because something already hurts. That is a hard way to start.
What happens at a first appointment
Often nothing clinical at all. The child sits in the chair, the chair goes up and down, they hold the mirror, and we count the teeth. If they will open their mouth, we look at the biting surfaces of the back teeth, which is where decay usually starts. If they will not, we try again in a month. Leaving willing to come back matters more than anything we could do that day.
The sentence that makes it harder
It will not hurt, I promise.
Said kindly, and it plants the idea that hurt was on the table. Children who have never heard the word arrive without the fear. If you want to prepare them, describe it as someone counting their teeth. Avoid needle, drill, pull and hurt entirely, including in stories about your own appointments told within earshot.
Why baby teeth get treated
They fall out, which makes the treatment feel pointless until you look at what an infected baby tooth actually does. It hurts, it disturbs sleep and eating, and the infection sits directly above the adult tooth forming in the bone. Losing one early also lets the teeth on either side drift into the gap, so the adult tooth arrives with nowhere to go.
Prevention that actually works
- Brush twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste, a smear under three and a pea-sized amount after
- Do the brushing for them until around age seven, because the hand control is not there before then
- Sealants on the new adult molars, which arrive around age six and have deep grooves that trap food
- Keep sweet things to mealtimes rather than spread across the day, since it is frequency that causes decay more than quantity
If a tooth gets knocked out
For a baby tooth, do not put it back. For an adult tooth, hold it by the crown and not the root, rinse it in milk if it is dirty, and either place it back in the socket or keep it in milk. Then get to a dentist within the hour. Time is the thing that decides whether it can be saved.