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10 Expert Tips For Treating Pediatric Dental Patients

10 Expert Tips For Treating Pediatric Dental Patients
by Brooke Sergent, RDH, BS

Let’s travel back a few years, okay a few decades, to my first dental appointment. A state ran facility had established itself a little over a mile from my childhood home. I remember arriving that day, and the first thing that greeted me was a wad of blood-soaked gauze on the sidewalk outside. I remember starring in horror, but once inside the children’s nook captivated my attention. I sat in a kid-sized, orange, plastic chair around a table positioned in an alcove for children in the waiting room. Television and books were provided to help keep children entertained and did a successful job in doing so. When my name was called, I was escorted, sans mom, down what seemed like the world’s longest hallway to a treatment room. I remember sitting tall in the dental chair, and a woman talking to me briefly, who left promising she would be back with the dentist. THE DENTIST!

As I sat in that chair all alone, I remember fear captivating me as the unfamiliar sounds of dentistry came to life around me. I panicked as the fear of the unknown began closing in around me, and I began to scream for my mom frantically. She was there before any staff member could make it to my room, and immediately reassured me I would be fine. At some point, it was agreed that nitrous oxide would be a great option and the black hooded nose nicknamed Snoopy carried away my fears. I was a nightmare patient. To think that I am now on the opposite side of the chair five days a week still seems so ironic to me.

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