Why Parents Should Allow Their Kids to Receive Dental Care on Their Own

At Must Love Kids, we believe that a child’s oral health requires attention from an early age. By having the doctors at MLK monitor the progress of our patients’ teeth and gums from the age of one, we can help to better enable the proper progression of their oral health into adulthood. In addition to providing dental care from a young age, another habit we believe should start early is parents allowing their kids to come back to the treatment rooms alone with our pediatric dental team at Must Love Kids.

There are many benefits that come from allowing your kids to come to the treatment room by themselves. As your pediatric dental team at Must Love Kids, we have specialized training to help your child have positive experiences and set them up for a lifetime of loving the dentist! You can feel rest assured knowing that letting your child experience dental care on their own helps to establish habits that will help their smile looking great for a lifetime.

Here are a few of the biggest reasons why parents should consider letting their kids come back to the treatment room on their own.

Developing Rapport With Your Child

We would like the opportunity to become friends with your child! Each child has their own unique personalities and we would like to get to know them individually. By developing a rapport with your child, we are able to better guide them through their visit. Even procedures that are traditionally thought to be uncomfortable, such as extraction or injection, can be completed easily if we are able to talk them through what they’ll hear and feel. Children are open to the power of suggestion and relaxation, and that works even better if we have a friendly connection. It’s our specialty!

A Distracted Dentist Cannot Perform To The Best of Their Abilities

There are laws about distracted driving, but what about distracted dentistry? Your child deserves our full attention. Many times pediatric dentists say we actually have two patients in the room, the child and the parent. Naturally, in this type of environment, we have to split our attention. If we are performing a procedure, we want to keep the focus on your child so as to not compromise the quality of our care. Your child will be with one of our fantastic dental assistants the entire time, keeping them entertained. Don’t worry, we still love you, even if we ask you to step out!

What Does The Research Say?

There are numerous studies and an abundance of evidence that children cooperate better when given independence in the dental office. Not only can we create a special rapport, but your child will look to us as specialists for guidance.

Nervous or anxious parents bring that energy to the treatment room. Your child knows you, and if you are nervous, they get nervous. Instead, allow us as the cool, calm dentist to transfer positive energy to your child. As parents, we may not realize that our actions and preconceived notions about the dentist can transfer to our children at home. Let’s all make an effort to stay positive about dental visits and get them excited for their appointments!

What Should I Do While I Wait?

Breathe. Please enjoy a cup of coffee from our gourmet selection. Even though you are an adult you are always welcome to have a little fun on our arcade games or review some of our reading materials. Please, make yourself at home and relax. Enjoy the day!

— Chelsea Zamudio DDS