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Dentist Visits

Ease your child's worries about visiting the dentist.

Describing what will happen at the dentist can help visits go smoothly. Prepare by explaining the important job dentists do: they check teeth to make sure they are healthy. You can mention what kids might experience:

  • Sitting in a big chair
  • Having their teeth counted
  • Having pictures (x-rays) taken of their teeth
  • Having gooey fluoride put on their teeth
  • Getting their teeth “tickled” by a special kind of toothbrush

Try acting out each step of the visit. Then ask kids to pretend to be the dentist and practice each step on you or on a stuffed animal (just pretend it has teeth!). As you pretend together, encourage kids to ask questions and share any worries.