Your Child's First Professional Dental Cleaning: What To Expect

Dentist Blog

Baby teeth will naturally be lost as adult teeth develop beneath them, dissolving their root system and pushing the baby teeth out of their dental sockets. This process is known as dental exfoliation. Still, just because they're a temporary part of your child's smile, those baby teeth should be diligently cared for (to the same level as permanent, adult teeth). Part of that care means that your child will begin to receive professional teeth cleaning during their dental appointments. As a parent, what can you expect?

Not Their First Time

It's extremely beneficial that your child's first dental cleaning will not be their first time in the dentist's chair. Your child should have started having regular dental checkups shortly after their first teeth begin to erupt from their gums. However (and it's fairly logical), children's dental cleaning won't become a standard part of their appointments until some (or at least, most) of their baby teeth have erupted.

Anxiety and Nervousness

How will your child react to the brand new sensation of having their teeth professionally cleaned? This really depends on whether or not your child had any anxiety or general nervousness during their previous appointments. Your child will still be very young when their first professional dental cleaning is performed, so you'll need to explain it to them to the extent that their language skills allow. Remember to keep any explanations as simple as possible, and remind your child's dentist if your child has experienced any anxiety as a result of their previous appointments.

A Simple, Painless Procedure

You will have had your own teeth professionally cleaned (often referred to as scaling and polishing) many times before, so you'll know what your child will be experiencing. The important thing is that you're aware that the procedure isn't painful in the slightest. There can be some very minor discomfort, but this is more due to the unusual sensations caused by the various tools that your child's dentist will use to perform the cleaning.

Brief and Thorough

In any event, your children's dental cleaning won't be especially invasive. As with adult teeth, the dentist will use a selection of scaling tools (both manual and ultrasonic) to remove plaque and tartar that has accumulated. Given your child's age and the fact that they haven't had teeth for all that long, the professional dental cleaning will be brief, while still being thorough.

Your child should cope perfectly well with their first professional dental cleaning appointment, setting them on the right path for a lifetime of caring for their teeth. For more information about children's dental cleanings, contact a local dental office.

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15 June 2021

The Reasons Why You Should Get A Root Canal

Hi, my name is Kevin Nelson and I want to tell you about my experience. I had a painful tooth so I went to see my dentist. After the examination, he said that I needed to have a root canal to save the tooth. I told the dentist to just pull the tooth instead and then he explained why that wasn't a good idea. He said that pulling the tooth would cause additional problems and then he told me what could happen. I didn't want any more problems, so the dentist did the root canal and I'm glad that he did. I wanted to write a blog to tell others about the benefits of a root canal and what to expect during the procedure. I hope that by getting the word out, other people won't make the same mistake that I almost did by getting a perfectly good tooth pulled.