How Important it is to Visit the Dentist During our Childhood

As the saying says: ‘Prevention is better than cure’, and what many people don’t know yet is that a big percentage of dental treatments when we are adults could have been avoided through an early detection during our childhood. 

The ideal age for kids to visit for the first time a dentist is when they turn 4 years old. At that moment, we are on time to detect any oral problem the kid could suffer in the future and as a consequence there is a possibility to solve it avoiding it to get severe through years.

This way, some oral issues like, a forward jaw or a smile where there is too much gum showing, can be fixed at an early age taking in advantage the bone’s growing process, through a discrete orthodontics for a short period of time or even with a removable orthodontics, so the kid has to use it just during the sleeping hours. If we wait to a later age, like 16 years old, the issues mentioned before could be solved through surgery or other expensive and complex treatments.

On the other hand, kids between 6 and 12 years old who visit the doctor can discover caries, gum issues or irregularities in the position of the teeth. It is very important to educate children in these issues and inculcate healthy habits in oral health, same as prevention techniques so the youngest can learn how to take care of their teeth and smile from the first time they visit the dentist.

Moreover, it is a must to make their first times visiting the dentist a nice experience; these visits have to be designed for the youngest ones so that they don’t develop fears that could go with them for the rest of their lives. The fact that parents have been through orthodontics treatments when they were younger, and knowing that they could have avoided them during childhood, is a great advantage because it can work as an experience they don’t want for their kids.

It is important to highlight that before turning 4 years old, it isn’t necessary to visit the dentist, only if it is about a major issue or to identify possible oral and maxillofacial problems. In any case, the best for this first visits is to go to a professional clinic, trustable and with specialists so our kids can grow up happy and with a beautiful and healthy smile.