How Often Are Kids Supposed To Visit The Dentist?
Proper dental health is a lifetime journey. This means that you have to ensure that your kids' dental health is properly addressed from a very young age. Early regular visits to the dentist are important because they enable an expert to monitor them to ensure they are developing properly. This can limit the need for more expensive interventions at a later age.
However, trips to the dentist office can be expensive and can also take up much of your time. How can you space your visits to ensure your children get the care they need?
Regular Visits
Most dentists will recommend that children should start seeing a pediatric dentist as soon as their first tooth appears. After their first visit, it is recommended that the child goes back to the dentist after every six months for checkups.
These regular visits are important because they can identify early if the child will need specialized treatment, such as orthodontics. There are many treatments that are more effective when started early. There are teeth that may be missing or crooked, and these will need to be monitored.
Does Proper Care of Teeth Mean Fewer Visits?
Some parents assume that they don't have to stick to a schedule of regular visits to the dentists if their child has already adopted proper dental care practices. However, this is always a mistake.
For starters, there are many issues that can still affect a child's teeth even if they brush and floss regularly. For example, proper oral health practices may not prevent issues such as crooked permanent teeth. This can happen if the baby teeth, which help to guide the permanent teeth, are not developing properly.
Secondly, what some people think of as proper oral care might be wrong. Your child might be brushing and flossing their teeth the wrong way, and this can do more harm than good.
Getting Comfortable with Dental Visits
As time goes by, children may have to visit a dentist many more times during their lives. Quite often, you'll see adults who are absolutely terrified by the prospect of going to a dentist. One major reason for this is that many such adults rarely visited dentists at a young age.
Going to most doctors can make many people anxious. However, it's important to get into the habit of getting regular checkups. Therefore, it's a good idea to make it normal for your child to see a dentist.
