Pediatric Dentist shares insight on children’s first dental visit

After two reports of children dying linked to a local dental office, a Pediatric Dentist is sharing insight on how important children’s dental care is. According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, establishing dental habits with your child before age one can prevent any future oral health problems from happening. Dr. Brian Cullen of Pediatric Dentistry of Yuma, says, the first visit to the dentist is crucial. “Probably the single most important thing is for the parent to be involved,” said Dr. Cullen.”Don’t let your child do their brushing at age 1,2,3 years of age because they don’t have a real understanding. When the parents do it themselves, it establishes a habit and routine for a child to get used to when they grow up.” Educating parents on their children’s dental care and getting them comfortable visiting the dentist at an early age, are the first steps to have them living a healthy lifestyle. “The primary and most important thing is the prevention aspect of dentistry. We want to avoid the children having dental treatment at 1,2,3 of age or so.”

Dr. Cullen says parents should know the difference between visiting a general dentistry to a pediatric dentistry. Pediatric Dentistries specializes practices used in medical procedures on children as young as age 1, including oral sedation and general anesthesia.

“Most general dentistry normally doesn’t routinely see children until age 3 or 4 years of age, but we see them birth on up. There are many situations with newborns, such as a cleft pallet, cleft lips, and we’re used to going into the operations room, using general anesthesia, and all different treatments for children.”