By Dr Sparkman Ferguson
February is being celebrated as National Children’s Dental Health month. During the month, dental communities focus on the special dental needs of children.
However, children are not responsible for their own dental health. The parents/guardians play a pivotal role in every child obtaining optimal dental care.
The challenges:
• Many parents themselves do not seek personal dental treatment.
Statistics show that a child’s dental health suffers when parents themselves do not visit the dentist. This is most disconcerting. Parents ought to visit the dentist twice each year for the purpose of dental examinations and professional cleanings. This sets a good example in the home and the child grows up with the knowledge that dental visits are a natural part of life.
• Many parents view their child as an “extension of themselves” and not as a separate individual.
This is an extremely difficult problem to overcome and accounts for why a huge percentage of the 70,000 school children in our nation never see a dentist. Many parents (with good intent) are simply going to give their children the experiences that they themselves are accustomed to. If a parent sees no need to have a professional cleaning, they will also see no need for their child to have one. This is a practical meaning of “extension of themselves”. Because of this ignorance/attitude, a child is placed in a very precarious dental health dilemma.
• Transference of fear
When a parent is fearful of visiting the dentist, they sometimes pass this fear on to their child. The net result is that the child senses the apprehension of the parent in the dental environment. This causes the child to become apprehensive about treatment and sometimes makes acceptance of treatment very difficult. This is generally an unconscious process, but nonetheless detrimental to the child’s dental welfare.
• Misplaced priorities
Very often a parent will have no choice but to take a child for dental services because the child is having excruciating dental pain. In addition to alleviating pain, dentists take this opportunity to bring the parent into line with the child’s dental condition. It is very common to see the pair leave the office only to return when another episode of pain arises. This is a bad precedence because the child then begins to associate the dentist with pain, and along with this association comes a fear of dental visits.
• Inconsistent dental visits
Consistent regular dental visits help to ensure that children will be in good dental health. Inconsistent dental visits creates a special challenge for dentists seeking to keep a child in good health. Once again, this is a parental concern. Parents need to understand that two regular visits a year are a minimum for their children. These regular visits for professional cleaning can reduce the apprehension associated with dental visits.
• Not recognising dental transitions in children
Most parents do not have a clue that their children will experience the dental transition period starting at age 6 for the majority of children, and extending to age 13. During this time, children exchange baby teeth for adult teeth, and at the same time get new adult teeth without exchange. This is a critical period and offers the challenge of the possible need for dental interventions ranging from dental sealants for new permanent teeth, to orthodontic treatment for misaligned teeth.
The solution
Parents/guardians have a huge responsibility rearing children. Along with all of the ordinary stuff, dental health ought to be an integral and important consideration by parents for the healthy development of their children. If you are a parent reading this article, I ask that you carefully consider this information and seek to get your child/children on the correct dental footing.
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