My oldest dd is 9.5 and phobic about the dentist. She's always been like this and I have no idea where it came from. When we took her for her first dental appointment at aged 2, she said 'no dentist' even though she had no idea (as far as we knew) what a dentist was.
The last few years at our family dentist have been a real trial, just persuading her to sit in the chair (I think the chair is particularly difficult for her). She then gets all tearful and the dentist wasn't particularly helpful - comparing her to her younger sisters etc.
In the end we decided to have a fresh start at a new dentist who only sees children. They were all seen last summer by him and he was brilliant. While her sisters were being seen, poor dd ran away and hid in the waiting room, but the dentist eventually managed to let him see her teeth standing in the waiting room. He took his gloves off too (she also hates the gloves).
However dd has big gaps in her teeth and will probably need orthodontist treatment. She hates her teeth and is being teased at school so this new dentist said we could be referred for an assessment. Unfortunatly the orthodontist wasn't as patient as the dentist, but he managed to persuade dd to sit in the chair which she hated. In terms of orthodontic treatment, he said we should wait for a bit and be seen again in 6 months...but dd doesn't want to go back there.
I just don't know what to do to help her. Does anyone have any advice?