When Do You First Take Them to the Dentist?

Our younger daughter started at 3 as well. We use Dr. Kevin Fee in Geneva - on Fourth Street. There's also has a female dentist - Dr. Brawka (sp?) who's there. They seem to alternate days or something. Both are excellent and everyone there seems to have a wonderful manner with kids. They also have a big plastic treasure chest of little "Oriental Trader" type toys by the reception desk that kids get to choose out of. Also: stickers, pencils, etc.

I'd recommend you give them a call and voice your concerns, esp. about early teeth. I know they let us bring in our daughter at about 2 1/2 for a "dry run" so she'd know the experience and not be too confused by the REAL visit later. Worked wonders; both of our girls look forward to visiting the dentist!

(Hmmm - I remembered I have an appointment for this Friday morning!)

My husband started taking my son to the dentist with him when he was about 1 1/2. My son did not get his teeth looked at but he was able to see the office and watch my husband getting his cleaning. This made my son's first official visit go much smoother. I think he was about 2 1/2 when he first had his teeth cleaned.

3 years old is what I've always heard. With going every 6 months, I really don't see it worthwhile to go early (unless there is a problem of course) for the sake of them getting used to it. There was a longer wait for an appointment than I expected (3 months), so my older son's first appointment was at 3 years & 3 months. They just looked at his teeth...no problems or anything. They had a video for him to watch first and the pediatric dentist (in Elgin) was great! Somebody on Mamasource referred him for us and it worked out GREAT! To help the teeth, I'm a big believer in limiting juice...milk and water being the primary beverages. We used juice just for potty training (to drink while on the potty when we first started training) and my 3 year old still sees it as a special treat to drink juice, not just something to drink when thirsty, as it really isn't so great for the teeth and the nutrients are better from the actual fruit. So anyway, I'd wait til around 3 years old. The pediatric dentist too said he'd see my younger son when he was around 3 years old too, so I think that's pretty normal for the first appointment.

We just asked our dentist and said age 3 as well. He said to have our son practice brushing (with baby/toddler toothpaste) any time that we brush - he does better mimicking rather than us telling him how. He also said to have him drink water after he drinks juice, even if it is just a couple of sips to keep the juice from sitting on his teeth.