Its a natural tendency for the parents to offer comfort and ease to the child when they are in the dental chair especially when it comes to treatment appointments.
In the process of comforting the child, parents do tend to say sentences like:
- It’s not going to hurt.
- It’s not painful.
- There is no needle.
- There is no drill.
- And many more…
Of course, the intent of doing so is to save the child from any trauma, threat or challenge and keep them positively motivated throughout the treatment.
But, from the clinical psychological background, what’s happening is that the amygdala of the child’s brain is only picking on the words like, needle, hurt, painful and drill. In this situation, amygdala generates a fear-provoking response which makes the child more and more apprehensive, scared, fearful and thereby less able to cope with the treatment.
It thus becomes significantly important that the parents are given right education in regards to the vocabulary at the dental office before they bring their child in. Most of the times, I like to share the dental office vocabulary at the time of pre procedure or checkup appointment.
The details of the words to be used, not to be used, any relevant metaphors must be all informed, discussed so that the parent, child, and dentist are all on the same page of instructions, and pre discussions.
The simplest behavior modification technique Is to mention that the child may feel different and perhaps some discomfort, but not real pain. However, anytime child signals, treatment can be stopped, their concern can be answered prior to resuming the treatment. Using the right set of comforting words is a key to child’s cooperation.
The intention here is to maintain positive dental attitude for lifetime by keeping each treatment appointment within the comforts of the child’s acceptance.
