Carlsbad Dental Blog

One of the main responsibilities of a parent is to provide a healthy and stable environment for their children. An important part of this job is to find the right dentist for your kids. While a family doctor is important, mostly doctors are seen when something has gone wrong like a broken ankle after a spill on the trampoline. Your family dentist, however, is there to help teach, to observe as well as to treat. But what are the traits in a good kids dentist in Carlsbad? What should you be looking for past the flashy ads and on-line claims? Here are four traits one should look for.

Family Oriented
Childhood is a busy time 'orally' speaking, and so your child and his dentist (and his staff!) will see each other a lot. Therefore it is important that not only is he and his staff competent but also personable. So much of what dentists do in the form of mentoring can only truly work as long as the child feels comfortable around them. Sadly even with newer, less invasive dental technology, going to the dentist can be scary for a child. Being able to not only put the child at ease but be seen as part of their extended family is important. While most people don’t like going to the dentist, it is important they don’t mind seeing the dentist themselves.

Mentoring
Dentists get more chances to interact with your child than doctors so they get more chances to teach them proper oral hygiene. Dentistry is all about preventative care and so early exposure to the right techniques is critical. More importantly your child has to feel the dentist is a friend of the family so they'll listen. All of this applies to the dentist’s staff. Since so much of the cleaning and checking of teeth is done by the various dental hygienists, their ability to bond with your child can be just as important as the relationship with the dentist.

Unflappable
Children can be cantankerous, willful and just down-right surly and having a toothache can make them even more so. Worse is before your child is seen, the dentist may have seen a veritable parade of such cranky children that day. A dentist who is able to be cool, professional and personable in the face of child after child and still able to give your child the attention they deserve is the dentist you want for your family.

Flexible
Health-care providers often act as if they are doing you a favor by scheduling an appointment for you. Children, however, do not take well to timetables. They get ill at the worst times and have accidents unexpectedly. This all on top of the normal ups, downs and surprises one has in their adult life. A good dental office is one who is able to work with your schedule and knows emergencies come up and life happen and not punish you for cancellations. The ability to work through life’s emergencies with a smile is a trait worth looking for.