Behavior Management
Working With Your Child’s Behavior
Children often have anxiety when they experience something new. If they have had a bad experience or are very nervous, our goal is to help them overcome their fears and help them realize that they can do it. We start with “baby steps” until we have gained the trust of the child. We are continually amazed at the courage children have who come to our office.
The first thing we do when a new patient comes to our office is get a sense of their comfort level. Most children get comfortable very quickly as we show them how we do things and when they see other children around them being worked on. Some children need a little more help to improve their comfort level.
We use proven techniques to help children overcome their fears. There are several techniques that we use in our practice; these methods are commonly used in pediatric dental practices. You may notice that we will set limits or rules for your children. These rules are to help the child know from the beginning what is expected of them and what they can expect from us.
Following are techniques that we will use to manage a child’s behavior:
- modeling
- communicative management
- nonverbal communication
- tell-show-do
- positive reinforcement
- parental absence / presence
- distraction
Most children respond very well to these techniques. Some children may still be uncooperative after we have employed these techniques. If this occurs we have other options that allow us to complete the work at hand. These will be explained to the parent or guardian in greater detail should it becomes necessary to use them. These options include: medical immobilization, conscious sedation, and general anesthesia.
If you have any questions or concerns, please call our office. Dr. Malcolm is always willing to answer any questions you may have to put your mind at ease.
We appreciate you trusting us to work with your children. We will care for them to the best of our expertise and training.