The First Dental Visit for Your Child

Early childhood is the very best time to begin a regime of regular dental care, but here at the Upper East Side Pediatric Dentistry Center we often find parents and caregivers are often a bit confused about exactly when their child should have their very first dental visit with Dr. Sara Babich, or when they should begin to look after their child’s new teeth.

In fact dental care can begin right from babyhood and even before your child gets their very first tooth.

Getting Your Baby Used to Having their Mouth Cleaned

Before that first tooth erupts, you can get your baby used to having their mouth cleaned by gently wiping their gums with a clean piece of damp gauze or a damp washcloth after each feeding. This help them become accustomed to the sensation of having their mouth cleaned.

When to Book That Very First Dental Visit

Your child’s first dental visit can be booked soon after they get their very first tooth, and they should have visited a dentist Dr. Babich by their first birthday.

We know this might seem amazingly early but there are a huge number of advantages in beginning a regime of professional and home dental care as early as possible.

What to Expect during That First Dental Visit

We are always incredibly gentle with children here at the Upper East Side Pediatric Dentistry Center, but especially so with young babies.

That very first dental visit is merely a chance for our pediatric dentist Dr. Babich to take a quick look inside their mouth, probably while your baby sits on your lap so they still feel very safe and secure. This is just an opportunity for us to make sure their mouth is developing properly and it’s a great chance for you to begin learning more about their dental care.

Get Customized Advice on How to Look after Your Child’s Teeth

As a pediatric dental practice, we realize looking after a child’s mouth isn’t always easy and it can be tricky to clean their teeth properly. This is why we often work with parents and caregivers, providing advice on the best toothbrushes and toothpaste to use right from the start.

Our friendly dental team can also give advice on how exactly to brush a young child’s teeth. Initially, it obviously won’t be necessary to floss their teeth, but you need to start as soon as they have more teeth that come into contact with each other and this is another area we can help you with, by providing practical demonstrations.

Get Help and Advice about Early Childhood Habits like Thumb Sucking

As your child grows and develops we will be here every step of the way to help you with their dental care, including advice on oral habits like finger or thumb sucking.

This isn’t a problem in very young children, but it can create issues if it carries on beyond the first few years of life. If this is the case, we can offer advice on the best way to help your child break this habit, hopefully well before it causes any damage to their dental health.

Dr. Babich Focus on Preventative Dentistry

Our emphasis is very much on preventative dentistry and we continually review and update every child’s personalized dental care plan that includes the suggested frequency of dental visits, as well as details about any preventative dental care treatments like:

• fluoride
• fissure sealants

By taking this proactive approach, we can help keep your child’s teeth healthy and strong so they can grow up with all the benefits of having a healthy and nicely maintained smile. Another thing we can do is keep an eye on the development of their teeth and jaws.

Early Orthodontic Evaluations

As your child gets older, pediatric dentist Dr. Babich keep a close eye on the way their teeth and jaws are developing as some children benefit from having an early orthodontic evaluation around the age of six or seven. This might seem very young, but if any treatment is required then it can often be beneficial to have it sooner rather than later because of the way their jaws are still developing and growing.

Our orthodontist can take advantage of this growth to plan treatment in such a way that help guide the shape of their jaws, helping to provide them with a more attractive facial profile while ensuring there is plenty of room for their teeth to erupt normally.

Making Sure Your Child Grows up without Dental Fears and Phobias

Many adults have deep-seated dental fears and phobias that can often be traced back to a bad experience that perhaps may have occurred during early childhood. By providing your child with the very best pediatric dental care from a very early age, we can help to eliminate dental fears and phobias.

Not only they grow up accustomed to visiting a dentist Dr. Babich at regular intervals so they are less likely to feel fearful or stressed, but they also be less likely to have any dental emergencies.

Regular dental checkups are the very best and easiest way for our highly experienced pediatric dentists to pick up on any small changes to your child’s dental health, so that if any treatment is required it will be less invasive and quicker and they are far less likely to suffer from toothache or dental pain.

It is easy to see how dental fears can develop when a child’s first experience of professional dental care may have been when they were in pain due to having a badly decaying and infected tooth. Instead, we aim to make sure their first experiences of professional dental care are quite different in our child oriented dental office where the waiting room has lots of interesting things for them to play with, and our pediatric dental surgeries are specially designed for younger patients.

Personalized Oral Care Tuition for Your Child

Most of us still use the techniques learned as children to brush and floss are teeth, even if these are less than effective. We want to make sure that your child grows up knowing the proper way to brush and floss thoroughly and our dental team can teach them how to look after their teeth so that they grow up knowing how to look after their dental health. It’s often easier for a dental professional to teach a child, especially as our pediatric dental team has been specifically trained to make these kinds of practical demonstrations as enjoyable as possible.

By closely collaborating with you and your child, our hope is to make sure they grow up with healthy, straight teeth that last for life.

Pediatric Dentistry: Dr. Sara B. Babich, DDS
116 E 84th St
New York, NY 10028
(84th St. btw Park Ave / Lex Ave)
☎ 212-988-4070

Contact us today to learn more about our
New York City pediatric dentistry practice 212.988.4070