What to Expect from the Children Dentist

Children in the early 1800's were considered smaller versions of adults by society and parents alike and were often treated as such, right down to how they were dressed, the types of toys they played with and even how their medical needs were addressed. This mindset put kids in the role of being seen and not heard, and did not create a healthy environment for children to grow or develop in.

Thankfully, times have changed and our culture now understands that juveniles are not small adults, thus their needs are becoming better recognized.

The pendulum has in fact swung the opposite way as the unique needs of children are addressed in a growing market. This includes the evolution of doctors who specialize in kids as their only cliental, including pediatricians and the children dentist.

Juveniles can find a visit to the dentist's office stressful and scary and may have a hard time sitting still for the exam. And unlike adults, kids don't always respond to reasoning or logic to cooperate with a dental visit. The children dentist specializes in working successfully with young patients and does not - as the doctors of the early 1800's attempted to do - expect a child to behave in the same manner as an adult.

In fact, a dental visit in the 1800's was nothing like a dental visit today for either adults or children. For one thing, preventative visits that are a major aspect of dental care today were unheard of in this era, as teeth were pulled instead of salvaged, usually without the benefit of modern day anesthesia or pain killers. Often, the only pain killer that was provided while pulling teeth was cocaine - imagine your child in this type of dental visit! To make matters worse, anyone could claim to be a dentist with no training or medical background, much less any skills working with kids.

Today, the children dentist is not only highly trained in the field of medicine, but also in dealing successfully with children and their fears of the dentist's office. For an anxious child there are several solutions that can make going to the doctor easier, including the use of conscious sedation, which is a big improvement over the historic means of pain relief.

The children dentist can use three different types of conscious sedation for your child that includes either laughing gas, an injection or swallowing medicine in the form of a pill or liquid. The benefit to conscious sedation is the fact that it allows the child to communicate, while at the same time relieving the fear of the visit and addressing the pain and discomfort of the procedure itself.

The benefits of modern medicine are evident within every aspect of the modern dental visit for your child and utilizing a doctor that specializes in kids can help make the visit all the more navigable for both you and your child.