Children’s Dentistry: What’s The Best Video Playlist To Occupy The Minds Of Junior Patients?

Kids.

Ones with dutiful parents that take them to the dentist like clockwork; others who are typically not fans of being in the dentist’s chair because of the procedures they’ve already had to have.

Few adults actually like going to the dentist and children are no exception.

No matter how many incentives they may be offered by their parents and the clinician, most likely they’re not going to be overwhelmed with excitement at the thought of their appointment.

While video games in the waiting room are a great distraction for them, it’s what happens beyond that door that many of them dread. For paediatric dentists, the basic strategy in helping kids experience very little trauma despite the necessary treatment, is to get them in and out as swiftly as professionally possible, and ensure a worthwhile reward for their patience and endurance.

Not an easy process when you’re a kid. Lots of smells, equipment, noise and sensation – whether it’s invasive or not. Kids can be defiant, wilful and single-minded at the best of times, let alone when they’re nervous or afraid. So anything that filters the sights and sounds of being in the dentist’s chair is a winner. Wearing cool sunglasses, and a headset playing their favourite songs works well in taking the focus from them that they’re actually at the dentist.

Some kids’ dentists use Molar Media Mount to help kids forget: it’s an arm that mounts directly onto the operatory light and distracts by having the tablet screen completely obscure any view or reflection they may have of the procedure being performed. Letting a child choose what they’d like to watch and listen to has them feel they’re at least in control of something, in this place they’d rather not be. It allows them some psychological space from the reality at hand, and the sometimes stressful understanding that Mum or Dad aren’t right there with them.

Getting a child patient to relax, not ask for breaks and not wriggle around is a tall order, and a necessary one. For a dentist to be able to work quickly and efficiently in the tiny mouth before them, managing to have their patient zone out requires quite a few techniques.

Certainly nitrous gas is helpful. As is the Isolite: a single-use, soft and flexible mouthpiece that keeps the patient’s mouth open and illuminated, protects their tongue, cheeks and throat and controls saliva and debris. It guarantees less chair time, and much less distress for young patients.

Some kids become much less interactive and involved when they’re feeling really unsure. To expect them to be able to make the choice of what they’ll be watching is a seemingly simple request that can reduce them to tears because it’s just all too much for a little kid to bear.

Peppa Pig is usually a sure winner. Particularly the episode when Peppa’s younger brother George goes to the dentist for the first time. It’s full of useful assurances, and is illustrative of the importance of the nuances leading up to the appointment as to whether the child will have a confident or fearful dental visit. Peppa Pig Goes to the Dentist involves live modelling, an established and effective behavioural technique where Peppa, the older sibling, is examined first in the presence of George, who has the opportunity to observe and then mimic Peppa’s confident behaviour.

The best video playlist for a child at the dentist, is whatever they choose, or Peppa Pig.

No kidding.

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