We found a fantastic video to help you prepare for your child’s first trip to the dentist. Just in case the video isn’t loading, we have provided the transcript, as well.
Transcript:
Kathy Mielke: Hi, I’m Kathy and I’m a dental hygienist at Livonia Dental Group. Dental disease is the number one most prevalent, chronic diseases affecting children in the United States, more so than asthma. We recommend in the dental profession, that a child’s first dental visit is by their first birthday. The purpose for this visit is to acquaint the child with the office, the staff, the sights, the sounds, as well as, examine the development of the mouth. We will also review oral hygiene instruction, diet, teething, oral habits, and accident prevention. It’s important to set the standard at a very young age for a lifetime of good dental health.
Lexi, it’s your turn. Hi there, how are you? Come on back. This is your first time here, isn’t? Alright.
Okay Lexi, let’s get your bib on. Welcome to Livonia Dental Group, my name’s Kathy, I’m going to be taking care of you today. How are you doing today?
Lexi: Good.
Kathy Mielke: Good, okay. I’m going to go ahead and lay you back and then, we’re just going to go through everything before I do each step, okay?
Are you brushing your teeth every day? Good. Are you flossing? Very good.
Okay, first thing I want to do is, I want to count your teeth. How many teeth do you think you have in your mouth?
Lexi: Ten.
Kathy Mielke: Ten, okay. Well, let’s see if your right. Open real big like an alligator. One, open real big for me. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. We have 10 teeth on the bottom. And then on the top, let’s see what we have here. We have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. We have 10 teeth on the top, too.
Okay, if you could stick your tongue up for me, I want to check that tongue. Ms. Kathy is just going to look at your tongue and make sure there’s nothing funky on it.
And, I see nothing. Good job! Are you brushing your tongue? Okay. Well, now I’d like to give you a little squirt of water. I don’t want you to close your mouth because, guess who’s coming? Mr. Thirsty is going to come and suck it all away. Close all the way. Perfect. Kind of like a straw isn’t? But, it goes the other way. It doesn’t go into the belly, it goes into Mr. Thirsty.
Okay, now what we’re going to do is, we’re going to polish the teeth. This is my tooth tickler. So, what we do with this is, I go around each tooth, open real big. Good girl. And, I’m going to gently polish each tooth, shine it up. Get that plaque out of there. And then, what we’re going to do is, we’re going rinse you. And then, Mr. Thirsty is going to come in again.
Okay, stay open for me. I’m going to put that down, we’ll get a little bit of water. Excellent. And then, here comes Mr. Thirsty. Just easy as that. Close that mouth. All the way around it, perfect. Great job. Once we finish polishing, we go use our dental floss. Have you seen dental floss before? Excellent.
Okay, open real big like an alligator. There we go. That’s a cute face. And what we do with our dental floss is, we go in between each tooth. Hugging the tooth. We give it a big bear hug and make sure we get those sugar bugs out. Because, what sugar bugs do is cause cavities. And, we don’t want any of those, do we? No. Okay.
Let’s give another rinse with our squirt gun here. And, here comes Mr. Thirsty. Close your mouth, good girl. Now, the last step that we do at the dental office for children, is we put a fluoride varnish on. Okay, what I’m going to do is take my little brush here. You’re gonna open the mouth. We’re going to dry it off with my air, I have air that comes out of my squirt gun, too. So, open real big for me. I’m going to dry off those surfaces. And then, I’m going to take this brush and I’m going to paint this varnish, all over the teeth.
What this varnish does, this is a fluoride varnish that helps protect your teeth against the sugar bugs. It’s like a vitamin for your teeth.
Okay Lexi, what we’re going to do now is take X-Rays on you, okay? X-Rays are pictures of your teeth so that we can see in between the teeth and see what’s going on in there, okay? So, what I’m going to do first is, I’m going to put on a lead blanket. This lead blanket protects you from any outside radiation. So, you’re nice and protected. It’s really heavy, isn’t? It probably weighs more than you do.
Okay, so what I’m going to have you do is just keep your chin right in there, right straight, okay? And we’re going to practice. This is our X-Ray. What you’re going to do is, I’m going to place it in your mouth, you’re going to bite down on this piece of paper, okay? And, you’re going to hold it real tight and you’re not going to move your head. And then, what I’ll do is, I’ll take the camera and I’m going to pull it up next to your cheek, right where I need it to be placed. And then, I’m going to run out of the room and I’m going to push the button and it’s going to go, Beep. And then, I’m going to run back in and, I’m going to take it out of your mouth, Okay?
So, let’s practice. Open real big for me, real big. There’s a big girl. Hold on, don’t move. There you go. Bite … [00:05:21], one second. Open. Okay, now. Good girl. Now, stay nice and tight, right in there. I’m going to come in and there we go. And, I’m going to run out, press the button. I’m going to run back in. Open. You did it! Awesome! And then, we’ll do one more on the other side, okay? You did a great job.
Okay, what we’re doing here mom, these are the X-Rays that we took today and, what we’re looking for is anything in between the teeth, which is why X-Rays are so important because, we cannot see clinically. These are all of Lexi’s primary teeth, her baby teeth. So, what we’re looking for is any abnormalities, this white area is the enamel that goes around the tooth. So, we’re looking for any darkness or, discoloration within that tooth.
This large tooth here is an adult tooth. So, this will come and never leave. These baby teeth will, eventually all fall out. But, this one right here is not going anywhere. It’s quite a ways down yet. We’ve got some bone and tissue that has got to come up through. But overall, Lexi’s doing a really good job and looks very healthy.
Mom: Great.
Kathy Mielke: Okay mom, what I want to do, is just explain to you the differences between, children’s toothbrushes and adult toothbrushes.
Mom: Okay.
Kathy Mielke: As you can see, with some of these toothbrush heads, the difference between sizes. So, you definitely want to make sure you get a child’s toothbrush, soft bristled for Lexi, when she’s brushing.
Mom: Okay.
Kathy Mielke: Okay, this is way to big for her mouth.
Mom: Okay.
Kathy Mielke: This is another version that’s much, much bigger than what will fit in her mouth, which will make access harder and make her unable to clean where she needs too.
Mom: Okay.
Kathy Mielke: Okay. There’s different stages of toothbrushes, too. This one you can see, is two to four. This one’s five to seven. So, it kind of goes by their ages.
Mom: Right.
Kathy Mielke: So, it’s helpful you’re purchasing.
Mom: Okay.
Kathy Mielke: These are floss sticks. Sometimes for children, it’s very difficult for them to utilize the dental floss by wrapping it around their fingers. So, there’s floss picks out there. You don’t necessarily have to get Crayola. But, these will help the child get used to the feeling of the dental floss, in between the teeth to remove the sugar bugs. Okay?
Mom: Great.
Kathy Mielke: So, those are out there. I also recommend a timer. Two minutes, twice a day when they’re brushing.
Mom: Okay.
Kathy Mielke: And, when all of this sand goes to the bottom, that means that two minutes is up and she can stop brushing.
Mom: Okay.
Kathy Mielke: Or, you can sing the ABC’s twice. If you feel like singing.
Mom: Okay.
Kathy Mielke: For little babies or, smaller children that’s younger than Lexi. We recommend a toothbrush and toothpaste without fluoride in it.
Mom: Okay.
Kathy Mielke: Until the child is able to spit on their own, we recommend toothpaste that do not have fluoride in there.
Mom: Okay.
Kathy Mielke: Xylitol, which is this right here, is the natural sugar that is very, very good to help prevent decay.
Mom: Oh, okay.
Kathy Mielke: I mean, it is becoming more prevalent in the products out there. So, that is okay and safe for the child. But, until their able to spit on their own, we recommend a toothpaste without fluoride.
Mom: Okay.
Kathy Mielke: Okay? And, there are books out there, too. If you have other children, regarding visiting the dentist. We highly recommend that, you make the experience positive and encourage them and motivate them. “This is going to be fun. Whether you like it or not.” There are books out there, Berenstain Bears, Dora, Arthur, all sorts of books, visiting the dentist for the first time.
And, we’re really happy to have you guys in the office.
Mom: Great.
Kathy Mielke: And, thanks so much for coming.
Mom: Thank you.
If it’s time for you to schedule your child’s first dental visit, call us at 615-794-8977 to schedule your child’s appointment today!
