Shorewood Family Dental Care is a general dental office that puts a major emphasis on be a dentist for kids. This goes way beyond gentle techniques, education, and preventive services.
Anyone who walks into our office with a youngster immediately sees our passion for helping children achieve a beautiful, healthy smile. We want your child to have a positive experience. We believe that a child who has a great dental experience will have fewer dental problems in the future.
This being National Children’s Dental Health Month, we have crafted a series of posts about the importance of children’s dental services. This is the final post on that topic. Today we want to show you how we care for your children and what makes us so successful at giving children a great dental experience.
What goes into our child-friendly office?
The key to making our office child-friendly is our staff. Our staff, most of whom have children of their own, understand what makes a child comfortable. You might have noticed the giraffe in our logo. We have them around our office, as well. Every new child patient at our office gets a free giraffe stuffed animal. We even have a giraffe in our treatment room in case a patient needs some additional comfort in the dental chair.
Every hygienist and doctor in our office has a unique and fun way to explain dental procedures and oral hygiene to our young patients. You’ll even find them singing and dancing in the treatment rooms to keep the kids relaxed. We’ve found that trust is essential when looking for a dentist for your kids. So, we practice a method Show, Tell, Do. They get to see and hear about the procedure long before we start anything, and we a have a secret alert (raising the left hand) if they experience any discomfort. Sometimes we see children raising their left hand — even though they feel fine — just to make sure we do exactly what we promise. It’s a trust thing, and once they know they can trust us, our relationship becomes ironclad!
The adventures of Mr. Whistle!
We recommend that your child visit a dentist before their first birthday — or when the first tooth appears (This usually occurs around six months). During these visits, we will count the teeth and make sure the jaw bone and mouth are developing appropriately. When more of the baby teeth appear, we’ll begin light cleanings. Again, we always stick with our method of Show, Tell, Do, especially if we need to restore a tooth. So, anytime we use tools, we show and tell them exactly what to expect. There are no surprises here!
You might think that it’s a challenge to work with kids who need a filling. We have a special and unthreatening way to explain this process to our young patients. It’s not local anesthesia. We use “sleepy juice” to numb the tooth. Then we introduce them to “Mr. Whistle,” the dental drill. We show them the light and the sound of the drill before we start the treatment. After “Mr. Whistle” does his job, we introduce “Mr Bumpy,” who smooths out the restoration so it fits in with the child’s natural smile.
At Shorewood Family Dental Care, your child will have access to gentle care, caring hands, experienced doctors, and a loving staff. Our parents appreciate the attention to detail and our effort to make their child’s dental care special.
If you’re a single parent or family of eight, we’re a dentist for kids and can help each one of you keep your smile healthy and bright. We’re always taking new patients. You can call the office at 815-725-5991 or use the online form to set up a visit.
We hope to see you soon!
