to think that dentists who deal with children should be trained

[blueberryupsidedown]

Just been to nhs dentist with my two boys and our dentist is absolute rubbish at explaining (or not) things to children, is abrupt, not nice, not friendly, and think that it's all fine because she gives them a stupid sticker at the end of the apointment. And their teeth are fine. I can't really see how she is if she is dealing with children with bad teeth. I don't like going to the dentist on the best of days but really if they deal with children they should be trained on how to not making them feel OK about it. My youngest one (7 yo) was crying on the way to school because she said to him he needed to brush his teeth better but she didn't tell him how to do it... So I said to him we'll look it up on the internet, thank goodness for the internet...

[valiumredhead]

With dentists that haven't been especially forthcoming with info,I have always explained to ds what was happening. Can you not show her how to brush? Better probably means thoroughly.

[HeySoulSister]

teaching kids how to brush teeth is your job op......dentists can give advice. but why do you think they need to add special 'children training' in with the rest of their extensive training?

[Justforlaughs]

Well, as "childrens doctors" are trained as Paediatricians (sp??), I don't see why it should be so hard to train dentists how to interact with children. We had trouble with one dentist, and now travel 60 miles each way to see ours.

[BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack]

Erm...I think teaching kids to brush their teeth is the job of the parent, not the dentist!!!

Thats a bit ridiculous really to say they should be trained to deal with kids....should opticians, doctors, nurses, retailers etc etc all be trained to deal with children then - and how about old people, maybe they should be trained to deal with those too.....and teenagers as well.

But yes, thank god for google - oh and common sense too :)

[hiddenhome]

YANBU

We had a really unpleasant NHS dentist who was rude and abrupt and gave ds2 a dental phobia she was rough and caused pain as well.

We took him to another dentist out of our area and she referred him to a children's dental service who have been absolutely fantastic and he copes well now.

Many NHS dentists just don't have the time to spend providing the sort of care that children need.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

It is not beyond the realms of a dentists role to demonstrate toothbrushing, all you sneerers.

[littleducks]

My dentist is fab. He explains everything, lets the children hold a mirror so they can see what he is doing, showed ten extracts of a PowerPoint presentation in his computer to demonstrate a point he was making, gives them a bark out of 10 for their dental hygiene and tells then how to improve and when ds needed a filling (horrible experience) made it bearable doing the work in short bursts counting to 10 each time and stopping if ds asked him to.

I would change dentists, I don't think training would help some people.

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

I totally agree with you.

We've had one dentist who behaved like my ds's were an annoyance (they were behaving fine, sitting down quietly etc) and then wondered why they clamped their mouths shut when he came towards them with tools in his hand.

But then we've had another who welcomed them in the room. Talked to them, showed them what the tools are and how the chairs worked, told them about what they were looking for when she looked in their mouth etc.

And yes I do think that opticians, doctors, nurses, retailers etc should be trained how to deal with children.

[breatheslowly]

I agree. I went to a specialist paediatric dentist as a child and he was great and had a great hygienist who showed me how to brush and talked about keeping teeth healthy.

[HeySoulSister]

retailers should be trained to deal with children???

[LadyBryan]

Our dentist is wonderful. Really young chap, but he is brilliant with my daughter. He checks her stuffed cat's teeth first (this goes with her to places she's a bit nervous of!) and lets her move the chair up and down when it is my turn.

I think its vital that people are given the right training to deal with children and indeed nervous adults.

[livinginwonderland]

retailers need to be trained on how to deal with kids?! really?

[DesperatelySeekingSedatives]

YANBU to think dentist could have shown your child how to brush better.

As for whoever it was said retailers should be trained to deal with kids, erm.... why? I'm there to sell you shit, occasionally advise you, not to babysit your offspring

[Sokmonsta]

Yanbu to think they could be better trained in how to handle children.

A new dentist started backing dd1 into a corner, while looming towards her with the nice, shiny, metal tools as she refused to open her mouth, despite my best cajoling and no previous problems with the old one. Needless to say we left that practice after then as he genuinely couldn't see that he was scaring dd and making the situation worse.

We explained what had happened to our current dentist and she started with small steps to get her to open up, showed her the tools and told her what she was going to do with them and so on before she even asked her to open her mouth.

[stleger]

I'm in retail. I like dealing with children, especially chatty ones who reveal all kinds of family news .
I'm not in the UK - my dentist has a masters degree in geriatric dentistry which she studied for in London, so 'older people dentistry' exists. Both she and the other dentist in the practice have children, and are good at communicating with them - but are quite bossy in the 'clean your teeth better' way. Plaque disclosers are great.

[SarahAndFuck]

YANBU.

My dentist does a demonstration on how to brush properly every time we see her, regardless of how old her patient is or what condition teeth are in.

She understands that some people might be frightened or children might not understand what's happening, so she takes the time to be friendly and reassuring too.

Which is a million miles better than the dentist I saw when I was a child, who threatened to give me an injection if I didn't sit still before I even got the the chair.