Turning child dental fear into friendship

A crying child with pain enters your clinic. What to do next?

In pediatric dentistry, the main focus is on children.

There is 40% dentistry and 60% behavior management in kids. This aspect is more attractive for me, as it is all about the child, and eventually, it becomes a favorite and interesting topic for me.

It all starts when a child enters the clinic. How you interact with them is the first step. How do you convert their fear of doctors into a friendly meeting. Fear of injections and new equipment disappears when patients are treated well, and their mindsets are changed so that their past experiences are eliminated.

If a child feels safe in your environment, half of the treatment is successful for sure.

You need to work with more patience and calm when interacting with them. You just have to become a child. They just want a friendly environment where they can feel like home. You have to talk, play, and draw with them.

Sometimes this kind of playful act is beneficial for you also to make your mood light and feel refreshed from a hectic day.

A child comes with fear and a crying face, and when they leave, there is a happy child with a smiley face and a cute goodbye, which is enough to make you feel that yes, that’s what you want at the end of the day.

MBH/PS

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Engaging and heartfelt—beautifully highlights the importance of behavior management and empathy in pediatric dentistry.

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A wonderful post and I agree, dealing with kids can be hectic but handling with care and calmness would make it a good experience for the child. Children tend to fear dentists due to their serious nature and the “scary” instruments but with proper care and gentleness, dental visits could turn out to be a wonderful experience.

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I have to pen down my personal observations that it’s not just children but adults too fear visiting a dentist :grinning_face:

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While reading I remembered my own little and mischievous patient, really well explained treating kids you have to be kid with them . Doctors behaviour towards the kid matters so much the doctor have to be polite and must have patience with the kid so , that they can trust and get patiently treated by the doctor .

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