How We Successfully Prepared Our Toddler for the 1st Dentist Visit

If you’re dreading your toddler’s first visit to the dentist, you are not alone. We were in the exact same spot – but with some preparation (and some luck), we had a successful first trip to the dentist! In this article, we will share what we did and what worked for us.

For some background, we took our toddler to the dentist when she was 2 and half years old. We only seriously started “preparing” for our first trip to the dentist a few weeks before the appointment. Below is what we did to prepare.

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Step 1 - Found a Good Pediatric Dentist

One thing we did that I think contributed to our positive experience at the dentist was finding a good pediatric dentist.

We wanted to find a pediatric dentist because they specialize in seeing children. They have the tools and skill set that better equips them to work with children (like patience, ha!). Many pediatric dentists look more like playgrounds than dentists – this is the case for many popular pediatric dentists in our area. However, our insurance didn’t cover any of the “fun” pediatric dentists. This would have been a plus, but obviously wasn’t a deal breaker, so don’t be alarmed if you’re in the same boat. There was literally nothing “fun” or fancy about the look of our pediatric dentist office….it honestly looks just like a normal dental office.

Despite no “bells and whistles”, our pediatric dentist (and dental hygienist and x-ray tech) were all wonderful. They knew how to talk to my 2 year old and helped make the whole experience pleasant.

Sidenote on How we found our pediatric dentist: We got a recommendation for pediatric dentists from our pediatrician as well as word of mouth (from a mom group on Facebook). We then checked the recommendations against our dental insurance. We also considered going outside our network to one of the widely recommended “bells and whistle” type dentists – we called and got some quotes, but ultimately decided to stay in network so there would be no costs out of pocket.

Step 2 - Used an Electric Toothbrush (& Talked About the Dentist)

We had been using an electric toothbrush for our toddler for quite some time. This is the one we bought – even though it says 3+, we used it just fine with our 2 year old. The fact it features Frozen characters was a plus. It (sometimes) helps get her excited about brushing her teeth.

We like that it seems to get the teeth cleaner with less effort. The fact that the toothbrush is electric and noisy also helped prepare our daughter for the noisy tools that the dentist used.

Once we had the dentist appointment scheduled, we started talking about the dentist while brushing our teeth. Nothing too crazy – just to get our daughter introduced to the idea of going to the dentist. We would say things like “you’re going to go to the dentist”, “the dentist is going to clean your teeth”, “the dentist is going to look in your mouth”, etc.

Step 3 - Read This Book

We bought this book – Peppa Pig: Dentist Trip. The reason being two-fold – 1) We have a huge Peppa Pig fan and 2) It paints a good picture of a typical dentist visit.

This book helped our Peppa-loving toddler. Peppa is a good role-model in this book, as she is excited to go to the dentist. We read this book over and over in the weeks leading up to our dentist appointment. We also brought the book with us to the dentist and took it out while we were waiting in the dentist chair. “Look, you’re just like Peppa Pig sitting in the dentist chair!”, I showed our daughter. She was very excited and proud of herself in that moment.

If you have a character-obsessed toddler, we recommend seeing if there is a book or episode related to the dentist featuring your toddler’s favorite character. Daniel Tiger, Pout Pout Fish, and The Berenstain Bears all have books about going to the dentist (just to name a few).

Step 4 - Played Dentist

Inspired by the book above, our daughter would “play” dentist with her Peppa Pig figures.

It started out as simply holding the Peppa Pig figures while we read the book together. Then she started placing the figures over the pictures while we read the book. We then started acting out the story while we turned the pages of the book instead of reading the words. She would also act out the storyline when we didn’t have the book out – “let’s go to the dentist!” she would say, as she piled the Peppa Pig family into their car!

Step 5 - Hyped Up the Dentist

We would bring up the dentist whenever we saw an opportunity. We would always talk about going to the dentist with excitement and enthusiasm. We used words like you “get” to go to the dentist instead of you “have” to go to the dentist.

We would randomly have her say “ahhh” and open her mouth nice and big, just like the dentist was going to do. We would say with excitement and enthusiasm how great her teeth look.

We even drove by the dentist a couple times. Again, saying things like, “you get to come here in a few days”.

Basically, any chance we got, we would bring up the dentist visist and hype it up – how fun and exciting it will be, while also preparing her for some of the things the dentist was going to do (look in her mouth, brush her teeth, etc.).

The Day of The Dentist Visit

Here’s what the day of the dentist visit looked like:

I carried our daughter in the building and during the check-in process. I knew this would make her feel more at ease.
Once we got to the chair, I sat it in with my daughter in my lap. I filled out some paperwork and talked briefly with the dental hygenist.
When the dental hygienist left, I asked my daughter if she wanted to sit in the chair by herself. She said yes and I made a big deal about how great she looked in the chair & what a big girl she was (just like Peppa Pig). I also snagged a few pictures!
While we were waiting, I talked about what the dentist was going to be doing. We also brought out the Peppa Pig book and talked about the similarities between her and Peppa.
The cleaning and the visit went great! She said “Ahh” and opened her mouth nice and big, just like we practiced at home (and just like Peppa). I stood right next to her and encouraged her along the way.
Overall, I tried to keep a calm and confident demeanor (even when I was feeling very nervous). Toddlers feed off our energy (and fear).