Kids – The Core Foundation

Helping Your Grandchildren Learn About The Dentist

By David L. Steed

For many, the dentist can be a daunting experience. He is often thought of as the one who inflicts pain with rudimentary implements while getting paid handsomely to do it. While this isn’t true, anxiety about the dentist affects many of the patients we see every day, especially young children.

A Kid’s Place Dentistry tries to alleviate some of that fear with our child friendly services and doctors that care about patient comfort. Parents and grandparents can also help stem many of the fears that accompany a child’s first visit to the dentist. You are your grandchild’s greatest ally when it comes to learning about the world and using teaching materials like books, movies and games can help them see the dentist in a more positive light.

A great resource for kid friendly learning materials can be found on Pinterest.com. The Pinterest website operates like an online scrapbook where people can share creative projects and pin them to virtual pin boards. The Center of Dental Professionals page on Pinterest has many great ideas for learning about how to maintain a healthy mouth, including printable materials to share with your children.

One of our favorite project ideas from Pinterest is to take a large building block or styrofoam egg carton to use as teeth. By applying salt dough or clay between the grooves you can teach young children the importance of flossing with a string of yarn. This tactile project is fun and engaging for young minds that will remember how much fun they had when they go to their next dental appointment.

Take a children's building block and add a little dough to teach kids the importance of flossing. — Take a children’s building block and add a little dough to teach kids the importance of flossing.

Another strategy to prepare them for their first visit to the dentist is to read books or watch educational videos while answering any questions they might have. It is an excellent way to bond with your grandchild and gives them safe environment to learn about potentially frightening experiences. With websites like Youtube, Hulu and PBS, you can find educational programs about visiting dental offices and maintaining proper oral health for free. Many popular programs such as The Magic School Bus series and Sesame Street have episodes about the dentist that are great fun for kids.

For reading materials the website wegivebooks.org has some of the newest and most popular children’s titles for free. You can browse their collection of thousands of books and easily search by subject, genre, author or title. The non-profit organization has many fun books to read with your family including “A Trip to the Dentist,” by Penny Smith.

At a Kids Place Dentistry we try to make the experience at the dentist as fun of a learning experience as possible. We know that going to the dentist can be scary at times, but our team of dental professionals is invested in your children’s oral health. If you have any questions about children’s dentistry or where to find more great learning materials please visit our website dentalprosutah.com or contact our offices in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Image Source: ABC and 123 Learning Cooperative

Oral health is one of the most important things that we can teach our children and it can be so much fun! Young kids love to learn about everything that is going on around them. Learning about their teeth with sensory activities can make future trips to the dentist more enjoyable for parents. Here is a fun project that you can do with your children to help them understand the importance of flossing.

Things you will need –

An egg carton or building block piece
A soft bristle hair brush
Yarn to act as dental floss
Play-doh or tissue paper

The first thing you will need a large building block piece or an egg carton to act as your teeth. Show your child how the teeth feel and compare them to the ones in their own mouth. You can then prepare the teeth for the experiment. Take your egg carton or building block and stuff bits of play-doh or tissue paper sporadically through the teeth. These act as bits of food that your child will need to try to remove by brushing the teeth with their pretend toothbrush (hairbrush) that you have given them to use.

After a couple minutes of brushing ask them if they were able to get all of the food out from between the teeth. Hopefully the answer is no so that you can teach them the importance of not only brushing their teeth but how flossing between teeth helps maintain a healthy smile. Give them the piece of yarn and show them how to make soft strokes between the pretend teeth. Carefully remove the bits of tissue paper or play-doh, being mindful to explain that the gums holding their teeth are delicate.

This is a fun and easy activity to do with your kids. For more information about your children’s dental health please visit A Kids Place Dentistry in Salt Lake City, Utah. You can make an appointment by clicking here or by calling our offices at 801-747-8000.