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Trauma-Informed Pediatric Care And How It Protects Your Children

Dentist with Child Patient

Trauma-informed pediatric care means providing healthcare providers with the tools needed to help children through traumatic events and receive the care they need most. For pediatric dentists, this means helping children who have faced unpleasant experiences with dental procedures and or have mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression receive care through a calming, compassionate environment. At Smiling Kids Pediatric Dentistry in Indianapolis, we work to ensure that our providers are up to date with the latest trauma-informed pediatric care guidelines and help inform you about the ways we work to help children through traumatic events. 

How Trauma-Informed Pediatric Dental Care Is Provided

According to the Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress, trauma-informed pediatric care is a term that refers to the tools used by healthcare providers to help patients who’ve experienced trauma. Understanding pediatric trauma is a complex topic, and through research provided by the organization, healthcare providers can provide techniques to help deliver care. For dentists, this means recognizing the signs of traumatic stress in children and helping reduce the impact of that trauma through calming, caring, and soothing techniques. 

What qualifies as trauma varies from patient to patient, as the origins of trauma are intensely personal. However, what is known is that organizations such as the Center For Pediatric Traumatic Stress can provide educational sessions for healthcare providers and provide teams like ours with the ability to improve the outcomes for pediatric patients everywhere. For dentists, some signs of pediatric trauma include: 

  • Hearing myths about the painful nature of the dental drill, often in the context of bullying.
  • Previous unpleasant experiences with dental visits, such as having a tooth extracted.
  • Seeing the aftermath of a dental procedure cause discomfort, such as wisdom tooth extraction.
  • The anxiety and stress associated with anticipating receiving a shot or vaccination.
  • Signs of severe accidents that cause anxiety or fear about healthcare environments.

In order to prepare for these scenarios, pediatric dentists working with children are often trained and educated to learn the signs of a child experiencing stress, anxiety, or fear during their appointments and work to use calming techniques, such as breathing exercises, relaxing music, positive words of encouragement, and more, to help children through those experiences so they can receive the dental care they need. These methods also include working with parents to provide resources for helping their child through these experiences and communicating with other healthcare providers to refer them to other specialists that may benefit their overall health.

Contact Our Pediatric Dental Team To Learn More About Our Care

Here at Smiling Kids Pediatric Dentistry, we make sure to provide a supporting and welcoming environment as a priority for our patients. Our teams work to stay informed about trauma-informed care techniques to ensure your child looks forward to oral healthcare. Call our Indianapolis, IN, offices at (317) 580-9199 to schedule an appointment. During your visit, you’ll meet with a member of our team to discuss your child’s concerns with receiving