Parents: Need Help Handling Your Child's Fear of the Dentist?

Lately we've been talking about the dentist in our home. My son has his semiannual dentist visit in 2 weeks. He is nervous - he does not like going to the dentist. He last visit was awful - emotionally draining for both of us. I am prepping him several weeks in advance for this visit.

Tips for Reducing Fear of the Dentist in Children:

1. Set expectations. Talk to your child and explain what will happen. For example, you have a dentist appointment today at 2 pm. We will go and sit in the waiting room until they call your name. You may play with the toys in the office until your name is called. Once your name is called, you will go back to see the dentist and I will go with you (or it may be that the child is going alone).

2. Knowledge. There are four key components to the dental office visit - cleaning, counting teeth, taking xrays or pictures of your teeth and meeting with the dentist and letting him check your teeth. A flouride treatment may or may not be included in the visit. My son's fear - the tooth counter. He finally shared this with me last week. The tooth counter is a small metal tool with a hook on the end. He tells me it scares him. It looks sharp.

3. Practice at home with pretend play. My sister found this dentist play set she purchased for my son to help him conquer his fear. He plays with it, sometimes we play together. I've asked him, what if you were the dentist and the dentist was the patient. He laughs at me...he thinks it's silly for me to say such a thing.

4. Real life application. I bring my son with me when I go to the dentist, so he can watch my experience and become familiar with the process. Read books about the dentist experience. I purchased Just Going to the Denist for my son - we are big Mercer Mayer fans. We read the book together. I would suggest previewing the books at a bookstore or a library first unless highly recommended by a friend.

5. Take a tour. My son has been to the dental office several times in the past. He only goes every 6 months, easy to forget what it looks like in 6 months. We scheduled a tour for review. It only took a few minutes and the dental office was very receptive. After the tour, while we were talking, was when he shared with me his fear of the tooth counter.

6. Answer any questions or address any fears the child may have. I am going to address the tooth counter with the staff, maybe they will let him hold it and get comfortable with it. If not, maybe they can use another object until he's more comfortable. I suggested a Q-tip to my son. He laughed and said they were nice and soft.

7. Educate. Teach your child the names of the dentist and the staff members.

8. Talk positively. We talk about the dentist in our home. He shared with us last visit some similar likes to my son. Both of them are "critter catchers" - they like to catch frogs, toads and lizards. So they have that in common. My daughter loves going to the dentist. It is not difficult for us to talk positively.