First Trip to The Dentist

Taking a child to the Dentist for the first time can be scary for any child, let alone an autistic child. Because David has many sensory issues, I was hesitant to schedule his first appointment. I was afraid of what would happen so I decided that the best way to overcome my fear was to become educated. I started by reaching out to my other mom's of autistic children that I write to regularly, going to my favorite special needs website, and by talking to Davids therapists and teacher.

I found a Dentist office that specializes in pediatric dental care for special needs children. They made sure to only schedule David when there would be no other patients there. They took him on a tour of the office for the first thirty minutes and let him touch and handle all the instruments. They had asked me what were his favorite things ( trains, airplanes, and firetrucks) and made sure to stock the room with them. They let me bring his favorite movie in so they could play it in the TV that was in the ceiling over the chair. It was important to find an office that had a staff that was trained to handle ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) patients and could accommodate all of his tendencies

To help overcome his anxieties we started about a month out with working out different scenarios with his OT therapists and his ABA therapists. We play acted that we were at the dentist. We let him pretend to be the dentist on work on our teeth. His teachers at school incorporated books about the dentist into their reading time. We also started driving by the office to familiarize him with the location and doing pop-in lobby visits.

They day of we started off by doing some relaxation techniques that he likes. We did "big breathes" were he places his hand over my chest and mine on his and do big deep breathes until our heart rates were nice and slow.We did some joint compression's and some dancing to get all negative energy out!

He did amazing! Although there were some tears at first, he walked away with a smile! They staff was very helpful and prepared for him. They allowed him to sit upright instead of laying down and he got to show  his favorite firetruck to everyone:) I was so proud of him for allowing them to touch and handle him. He, once again,  exceeded my expectations. It is amazing to me at the things he can handle. I give a lot of credit to the great team of people we have working with him . Whenever there is a situation, they have always stepped in and helped me show David how to behave. I think it is important not only for me to be strong for him, but to have a strong support team behind ME.