When should your child's first dental visit be?
Short answer: When the first tooth appears, or by one year of age. That is the official recommendation.
My answer: As above for any child at higher risk for dental caries, otherwise around two years of age.
Believe it or not, children should start seeing a dentist by their first birthday. That is the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Dental Association.
More and more research shows that oral health can affect overall health. The germs and other things going on in the mouth can affect the rest of the body. (This is true in children and adults, by the way. Have you seen your dentist in the past six months?) Also, it is important to establish good dental health and habits at the earliest age possible.
The dentist will examine the mouth and the teeth and look for any problems, and instruct parents on the proper care of the child’s teeth. It is important that good dental hygiene start in the first year or problems can develop. The dentist will not usually clean a child’s teeth until later in the toddler years.
If you don’t think your one year old needs to go to the dentist, then definitely take him at age two. There is no doubt that 2-3 year olds need to see the dentist. I see a number of two year olds with tooth decay and other dental problems that could have been prevented. Fluoride treatments can help prevent tooth decay, and new technologies such as sealants can help as well.
I have had many family dentists in my area tell parents that their child does not need to be seen until age four. I think what they mean is that they don’t see children until that age. At least that is what they should say. This used to not bother me too much; I assume that like with many medical specialties, professionals who care mostly for adults are often unfamiliar with recommendations for children. However, a few months ago I learned that the American Dental Association (ADA), their own professional association, recommends that children see the dentist at age one. These local family dentists, therefore, are not following their own professional recommendations when they tell parents to start bringing their children at age four. I hope that they are also telling parents that they should take their child to see a pediatric dentist until then. However, that does not seem to be the case from what I am hearing from my patients.
