Help! Dentist anxiety - 2 year old

Since it’s a pediatric dentist, usually they EXPECT at least some amount of difficulty and are more than likely used to difficulty especially this young. On our new patient form it even asked to the effect of “how well do you think your child will take this” and it was badly, unsure, good etc..so they could gauge how to approach.

My son went to the ped dentist the first time for teeth not too long ago (previously went in early infancy for mouth tie releases) and he did fantastic, uncomfortable for sure but he did a lot better than I thought he would. They’ll have tricks and will do what they can. It’s just one of those things that has to be done. We were late to taking our son just because he doesn’t drink juice or anything except water and a bit of milk every day and he doesn’t eat anything sugary unless it’s natural sugar such as fruits so we were told we could afford to wait a bit longer than the recommended “first tooth or by 1 year”

They told me if he didn't allow any part of the exam then we could come back and not be charged. He did horrible but I guess they saw enough 😅

the REGULAR dentist told me they’ll take them at this age (4) but the pediatric dentist themself told us first tooth or by 12 months, especially if they’re drinking juices or having added sugars in their diet due to early prevention being easier and less traumatic than treatment on something already going on.

Something I always remember when consulting the pediatrician, to take what they say with a grain of salt if there’s a specialist for what I’m asking cause a lot of the time the pediatrician has no earthly idea of what they’re talking about and it’s hit or miss whether they actually know, will refer, or dismiss it entirely.

it probably has to do with cleaning and getting them desensitized to going as well as just to check to make sure nothing is developing and isn’t caught too late, they can treat it early. Brushing too often could damage her teeth and enamel so they’d probably watch for damage from that too in that case would be my guess if you mention her liking to brush more often than needed.

That would be my educated guess of likely reasons.

We see the dentist regularly since 12m. Every 3m. Clean teeth etc

We took our daughter to her first appointment when she was 12 months old and she didn’t do well at first. The pediatric dentist was able to calm her down and all they did was check inside her mouth to make sure all of her teeth were coming in and to see if she had any gum discoloration.