We left it quite a while before Cameo has his first dentist visit. Well we feel like we did anyway. He had just turned three but we felt like we were really behind! We moved cities and it took a while for him to come off the waiting list. But when we finally got an appointment we realised we had no idea how he would react. He is quite a shy bean around others and we didn’t know whether he would run away or love it. So we put a couple of things in place to help with his first dentist visit.
The first thing I did when I booked the appointment was asked for the dentists name. Then every time we referred to the dentist it was actually ‘Simon the Dentist’. Putting a name to the role meant Cameo felt like he already knew him.. or that we did! It meant that Simon the Dentist didn’t just suddenly appear in a very bright room one day out of nowhere making demands. This definitely helped, and even now we talk about Simon the Dentist is Cameo is having a little whinge about brushing his teeth. Also, lot’s of dentists now have websites where they have pictures of everyone in the sugery. So we had a look online and actually found a picture of Simon the Dentist and showed Cameo. He now had a face to the name!
Secondly, books! We have a ‘Maisy Goes to the Dentist book’ and it really did help. It mentions about sitting in the dentist chair, opening your mouth and saying ahhhhhh. It mentions that dentists look at teeth and it normalises it all. So we made sure we read that an extra few times before heading to see Simon the Dentist.
It might seem obvious but make sure brushing your little ones teeth is part of their routine. Cameo knows that he has to brush his teeth every day and he knows that it’s to stop them being dirty. We haven’t done It in a way that he is scared, he actually loves the praise he gets from showing us his shiny teeth! Like I said earlier, if we have difficult days (which does happen) we always say that Simon the Dentist wants to see clean shiny teeth!
We have tried a few brushing teeth apps and toys but generally speaking just keeping a routine and making sure we’re all brushing our teeth together works most of the time.
So we had our first trip to the dentist and we really make a big deal over it. Lot’s of cheering and clapping. We spoke about the dentist on the way and reminded Cameo that he’ll look in his mouth and he needs to show Simon how clean his teeth are. When we walked in ,Cameo was excited to be in a new place as per usual. Then when we were called in, even I was surprised by how white and bright the room was!
The Dentist asked Cameo if he wanted to sit on the chair. As Cameo is a bit shy in public, it didn’t surprise me that he didn’t respond. So they said he could stand, sit on another chair, sit on my lap… he could basically do anything. But He did sit on the chair, I just had to ask him to do it rather than ask what he wanted.
He did so well! I was so proud of him. He wore the glasses and opened his mouth without a single issue. No tears, no refusing… he just went ahead and did it. What a little trooper. We had great news too, the dentist said whatever we’re doing… just keep doing it. See you in 6 months Simon the Dentist!
