Reassuring Nervous children at Weymouth Street Paediatric Dentistry
Very often patients and also parents, come to see us for the first time with a degree of anxiety. The children may be scared, often from previous dental experiences or from misinformation from parents, siblings or friends; the parents may be uncertain of what is to be done and how we will deal with their child’s fear of dentistry. We understand those fears and uncertainties, and will do our best to show you our understanding by an empathic approach to both you and your child.
We explain every part of the procedure to the children before it happens, acknowledge anxieties and show the children that they do have the ability to deal with dental situations even though they are fearful. We believe that such experiences have a very positive effect on the child’s maturity.
Very young children, below three years of age, need the physical presence of their parent, and above that we treat them by themselves. We invite parents of those older children to sit in full view of the treatment in an adjoining room, as passive observers, but we respectfully request that while treatment is being carried out communication is just between ourselves and the patient. Many studies have shown a clear relationship between parental and their child’s dental anxieties, so a parent who communicates those feelings to his or her child will probably make the child anxious at the same time, which in turn make the child’s ability to cope with treatment, and our task, more difficult.
From all branches of psychology it has been shown that well-adjusted children come from homes where there is structure to child-rearing; where the parents are consistent with and set boundaries to, their child’s behaviour, i.e. discipline; provide ample rewards and (non-physical) punishment; nurture and encourage independence and social skills.
Research has also shown that Paediatric Dentists likewise are best at dealing with anxious patients by using management approaches similar to ‘best parenting’ described above, and is the basis for our approach at Weymouth Street Paediatric Dentistry to dealing with anxious patients.
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