Helpful Tips For Bringing A Child With Oral Sensory/Aversions To The Dentist

Children going to the dentist, especially for the first time, can be a really scary experience. I mean, even adults still don’t like going to the dentist. Now, imagine trying to take a child to the dentist who has oral sensory issues or oral aversions. Ya, hard. In this blog post I am going to discuss tips to help children with oral sensory/aversions go to the dentist. However, most of these tips can be applied to all young children!

When should you take your child to the dentist?

According to The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), it is recommended that children go to the dentist by the age of 1 year, or within 6 months after the first tooth erupts.

Welp, if you have a child that has infant/toddler oral sensory/aversions, this seems impossible. Hopefully, you have a care team you are working with to discuss this. You may decide that waiting until closer to the age of 3 is more realistic.

Ideally, seeing a pediatric dentist in this situation would be best, however, this may not be available. Don’t be surprised if you get conflicting information. Different dental offices may recommend different ages for when the first check-up should be. Call your provider (pediatrician), occupational therapists, and the dentist you plan on seeing to discuss when the best time to go is.

Preparation

Preparing your child for what to come is the most important thing you can to do to help your dental visit go more smoothly. There are many effective exercises you can do to help prepare.

• When you do something new, talk about what you’ll do! This is so important for all new things! The key is to use words they will understand, yet be detailed. Talk about what they will see, hear, taste, feel, smell, etc.
• Share your own positive dentist visit experiences with your child. They love hearing your stories, especially when you were a kid!
• Some dentists recommend having your child first come to watch your appointment. This way they get used to the sounds and see you handle the appointment well! I didn’t think my child would benefit from watching me first, so we skipped this step. I thought this would actually make her more nervous. You know your child best!
• Read books and watch kid shows that talk about going to the dentist. Our favorite is Daniel Tiger. If you haven’t heard of Daniel Tiger yet, either head to your local library or turn on some PBSkids. He is great and we learn a lot of good stuff from him. Read or watch, Daniel Tiger Goes to the Dentist, together and talk about it during and after. Maybe reread/replay it again the day of the dentist appointment. This works wonders in our house.

• I created a Reel on Instagram about our daughter’s trip to the dentist. It’s only 15 seconds long. It could be fun to show your child before going to the dentist of a positive experience! Video is below!
• Role play going to the dentist. First play with a stuffy and pretend to do a cleaning on a stuffy. Talk the stuffy through everything like you would with your child. Then role play and take turns pretending to do a cleaning on each other.

Practice good dental hygiene

Brushing your child’s teeth is probably next to impossible, I get it! With a child that doesn’t want to put anything, food, and liquids in their mouth, it’s very tricky for them to feel comfortable with a person or tools poking around in their mouth. Having them get used to brushing their teeth and having another person looking in their mouth is going to take some time. Below are products that were recommended to us by a few occupational, feeding, and speech therapists to help with oral sensory/aversions.

Helpful products recommended by our feeding therapists

Chewy Tubes

These are Chewy tubes. Click on each image below for the link. The different colors are different textures and thickness. Our occupational, feeding and speech therapist recommend getting the mouth warmed up and used to stimulation. It is possible for a child to have oral aversions and yet be sensory seeking. These children may not be receiving the sensory input they need from food, so they might possibly enjoy chewing on these. It can help them regulate and reorganize.

Note: Every child is different and these may not work for yours. Discuss with your provider or occupational therapist if you have any questions or concerns.

Also, these aren’t just for kids with oral sensory/aversions, all my children enjoy these!

Nuk Brush

Another similar item that helps stimulate the mouth are these Nuk brushes (below). Our feeding therapist gave these to use and we used them before each therapy session. She also wanted us to use these at home before meals. These are a big hit in our house and really helped before meals and therapy sessions.

ARK’s Z-Vib Oral Stimulator

Below is the ARK’s Z-Vib oral stimulator. Again, this was a very helpful tool used by our feeding therapist. Kid’s with oral sensory issues seem to do well with the vibrations. Vibration can provide a new level of sensory stimulation to increase oral focus and draw more attention to the lips, tongue, cheeks, and jaw. Vibration can also be very calming, soothing, and organizing.

Infant electric toothbrush

Our speech and feeding therapist highly recommended using an infant vibrating toothbrush, like the one below. We didn’t use this one, but it was similar. The one we had was awful and they didn’t have as many options when we needed to buy one. This one has good reviews.

Anyways, our occupational therapist recommended having the child brush their own teeth 2 times a day. With just water on the brush at first. Discuss with your therapist about when to add toothpaste. Depending on the child and their aversion, this may take a while. Make the experience fun and lighthearted, sing songs, dance, be silly. Try not to force the toothbrushing. This will take time.

Hopefully with these tools and tips, with time, your child will let you brush their teeth. It is important that they feel comfortable with someone else brushing their teeth or having fingers near their mouth. This can be extremly stressful for kids, so take it slow. Once you feel they are comfortable enough with this, it might be time to make an appointment.

Remind them they are safe

Remind your child before and during the dental visit that they will be safe and you will be with them the whole time. Validating their feelings is super important. Let them know it’s okay to be scared and that you are there for them. Offer to hold their hand, have them sit on your lap, or bring a lovey to hold on to.

Be honest with your children about how it will feel. There is a fine line between being honest and scaring them. Try to keep it lighthearted and positive. I tell my daughter that cleanings can be uncomfortable sometimes, but really shouldn’t hurt. It made her feel better that she can tell us if it hurts so we can take a break.

Daniel Tiger does a great job of teaching kids good coping skills. One that works really well in our house is, “Close your eyes and think of something happy. Think, think, think of your favorite thing!” This is a great life skill that can be applied to many situations. Talk before hand of what some of their favorite things are and what they will think about. My daughter and I like to go back and forth and list fun things.

At the appointment

• Talk them through the visit step by step while they are doing it. Relate it to Daniel Tiger.
• Tell them what will happen next, what they will hear, see, touch, taste, feel. Remind them it shouldn’t hurt, so let you know if they need a break.
• Be right there next to them, or have them sit on your lap.
• If possible, bring a lovey or stuffy for your child and hygienist to practice on before your child’s turn.
• Check in with your child often to see how they are feeling. Validate their feelings. Remind them you are there for them, they are safe. Use the coping skills you talked about. Sing the Daniel Tiger songs together.
• Be your child’s advocate. Speak up, you know your child best. Remind the hygienist and the dentist your child’s diagnosis and what seems to trigger them and help them. It’s okay to ask them to stop, I have done this. If it isn’t working out, you can leave and try again in 6 months.

Love, love, and love on them

Give your child and yourself some grace. With all new things, it can be challenging. Waiting until you child is developmentally ready and prepare will really make a big difference in the appointment going more smoothly. They don’t have to like it, that’s not the goal. The goal is to make it as positive of experience as possible. To decrease stress for them and yourself. Hopefully the experience will go well enough that you won’t have too much of an issue the next time you take them to the dentist. However, I would go through these steps again for future visits.

Again, make sure you talk to your provider and dentist with all questions and concerns you have. I hope you found these tips helpful in prepare your child for their dental appointments. I’d love to hear if you have anymore tips or any good experiences after implementing these tips.

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