Children’s dental care
The dentists at Clinique dentaire Saint-Étienne will welcome your child gently
Little ones also need to see the dentist regularly. A first visit can take place around age one or within six months of the first teeth appearing. It is a chance to get to know the care team and check the baby’s mouth. From age three, your little one can have a complete exam and a cleaning. Together with prevention at home (hygiene, diet), this is the best way to keep their mouth and teeth healthy.
The dentists at Clinique dentaire Saint-Étienne will welcome your child gently and make sure the visit goes as well as possible!
First visit
The first visit to the dentist can take place as early as age one. It focuses mainly on information for parents: tips and advice from dental professionals. It is also an “easy” first approach, so your child’s first contact with the dentist and the dental equipment is positive. Their first “real” visit, meaning their first cleaning, happens around age 3. A little while before, you can start playing dentist with them, having them lie on their back while you brush their teeth. But that’s all: no description of what we will do, no “it won’t hurt”!
If you are nervous about it yourself, just don’t talk about it! At the clinic, we have plenty of tricks to make your child’s visit as fun as possible!
Did you know that:
- 42% of kindergarten children have already had a cavity?
- There is a direct link between cavity-causing bacteria in a mother and the presence of the same bacteria in her children?
- The main risk factor for cavities in children is the transmission of cavity-causing bacteria by the mother or father?
Here is how to prevent cavities in your child:
- Check the temperature of baby food on your wrist, not by tasting it;
- Don’t clean the pacifier by putting it in your mouth;
- Don’t kiss your child directly on the mouth;
- If you are at high risk of cavities yourself, have an intensive treatment of your own mouth to lower your risk, because when the mother is at high risk of cavities, the child is 9 times more likely to develop cavities. The second risk factor for early childhood cavities is diet:
- Juice (even natural) in a bottle, a cup or a sippy cup;
- Misusing bottles or cups, that is, giving continuous access to the bottle (often at night). So avoid giving your child juice, and above all don’t let them sip it continuously.
A few tips
- From the first weeks of life, include cleaning the gums with a small damp washcloth at bath time in the routine.
- Avoid leaving the bottle in bed and wean your child from it around age one: it is then time for cups or glasses.
- Brushing should start with the first tooth, using a toothbrush (or a wipe if the baby is still very small) with a little fluoride toothpaste (half a grain of uncooked rice).
- Never dip the pacifier in anything (honey, sugar, etc.). Around age one, gradually reduce its use.
- Around age one, or when your child no longer falls asleep while drinking milk, start changing the bedtime routine so that teeth are not brushed before the last milk feed. Give the milk, brush the teeth, give the bath, give water if needed, and off to bed! That way, the teeth stay clean all night.