A child’s first dental visit – age and reasons. A literature review

Abstract

Dental caries is a multifactorial disease, which may begin shortly after tooth eruption. The development of a carious lesion is conditioned by the lack of or irregular dental visits, incorrect oral hygiene, and poor dietary habits. Dental caries is still a very serious health problem in the paediatric population in Poland. It is extremely important that the child’s first adaptation visit to the dentist takes place at an early stage of the child’s life. The purpose of this early visit is not only to assess child’s dentition, but first and foremost to provide parents with guidance on proper child’s oral hygiene and to correct improper dietary and eating habits. The aim of this study was to determine the age at and the reasons for the child’s first dental visit based on the current literature. A review of the literature published in the years 1992-2017 was conducted using the PubMed and Google Scholar databases. The study was supplemented with papers published by Polish authors discussing the issues in question. A total of 39 literature positions regarding this field were selected and analysed. The obtained data indicate that the first dental visit of a child takes place much later than recommended in medical guidelines. In most cases, it is a symptomatic visit resulting from the presence of advanced carious processes.