Scheduling Your First Visit

Scheduling Your First Visit

Get started early with dental visits!  The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Association all recommend that a child see the dentist for the first time around his/her 1st birthday.   This allows us to develop a custom preventive program especially for your infant or toddler, that will begin with the time their baby teeth are coming in.

Once your child’s diet includes anything other than breast milk then the erupted teeth are susceptible to decay. Dental problems can begin early.   Research studies indicate that dental cavities are the most common chronic childhood disease in America and affect 50% of 1st graders!  The earlier the dental visit, the better our chances of developing a preventive program that can keep your child cavity free!

Raleigh pediatric dentists Dr. Porter and Dr. Hollowell view your child’s first visit as our first opportunity to show your child how fun and exciting dentistry can be!  Our goal is to make your child as comfortable as possible while teaching how to take care of his/her teeth.  Our office is designed with children in mind and our staff treats your child as if they were one of their own.   Getting an early start in regular dental care is an important step on the road to teaching your child healthy lifetime dental habits.

A parent or legal guardian must accompany a child to his/her first dental visit.  We understand that it may be necessary to have someone other than the legal guardian bring the child to subsequent visits and can provide necessary paperwork to be completed for this purpose.  Your child’s treatment plan must be signed by the parent or legal guardian prior to rendering dental services.  This serves as consent as well as accepting responsibility for any balance due.

One parent or guardian is welcomed to come back into the treatment area with the patient for any appointment if they wish.   All other adults and children should remain in the waiting room for the safety and privacy of other patients.    Most children 3 and younger do much better with the comfort of a parent present and we do highly recommend that parents accompany children of this age for their visits.  Older children sometimes do better without their parents present.  If we think your presence is negatively affecting your child’s behavior we will discuss this with you.  We do have windows in the doorways of all of our operatories so if you do not wish to be present in the operatory for your child’s treatment you can still peek in as a silent observer.

For the best dentist in Raleigh or an outstanding Wake forest dentist for your children, contact Triangle Pediatric Dentistry today.