As a parent, you know that your child’s health is of utmost priority. You want to make sure they grow up happy and healthy that’s why you want to get them the best health professional, whether it’s a doctor or a dentist.
Finding a Falls Church pediatric dentist can be a daunting task. You not only need to find one that has a proper education and training, but also one that can create a positive relationship with your child. Dentist trips can be scary for young children so you want them to be comfortable and have good memories whenever they go to the dentist.
Check out the tips below so that you will be able to find the perfect pediatric dentist for your child at Falls Church.
- Ask your child’s pediatrician or your own dentist for a recommendation – it would be given that you would ask your friends who are parents for recommendations on who they have as the dentist for their children but don’t hesitate to see if your own pediatrician knows someone you can go to. Also, your very own dentist might know someone who has taken further training and is qualified to be your child’s dentist.
- Check out the directory provided by the AAPD – other than the recommendations from your friends, do check out the directory provided by American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) on their website. If you find some names that have a practice in your area, you can add them to the list of prospective dentists that you want to check out.
- Look at their qualifications – a pediatric dentist should have completed further training after they finished dental school to ensure that they are qualified to handle children. This training is usually two or three years more. So aside from checking that the dentist you are eyeing is board certified in the state of Virginia, check the further training. It would also be a good idea to look for a dentist that has had experience with child psychology, especially if you have a child with special needs.
- Find one that has a convenient location and hours – for some households, both parents may be busy with work or business and may not have a lot of time to bring their children to the dentist. When you are looking at your choices, find one that has a location near you and that would also have more convenient hours. For example, some dental practices do not have office hours on weekends, so make sure that your pediatric dentist would be available for those times.
- Visit the office and observe the interaction between your child and the dentist – once you have narrowed down your choices, it would be a good idea for you and your child to make a visit. You want to see how the dentist and your child would interact. They may have the best education, but you want to see how they will make your child comfortable and like the idea of regular dental visits instead of being scared of it.
My husband and I are going to be having our first baby soon, and we want to make sure that we know exactly who each of her healthcare providers will be. So I like how you point out that you should find a pediatric dentist who has two or three years more of school to become qualified to help children. We’ll have to find a pediatric dentist who has that qualification for our baby.