Free under 16 when a parent is treated here
Children get the version where nothing happens first
The aim of a child’s first four appointments is that the fourth one is boring. A bored eight-year-old becomes an adult who books without thinking about it, which is worth more than anything we could do to their teeth.
By age
What actually happens
Bring them as soon as they have teeth. Not because there is anything to treat at one year old, but because the appointment where nothing happens is the one that makes every later appointment possible.
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Before one
Bring them with you to your own appointment and let them sit on your knee. Nothing else. The room stops being unfamiliar, which is most of the work done for free.
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One to three
A ride in the chair, a count of the teeth, a sticker. Two minutes. We are looking for early decay between the back teeth and at the gum line, and mostly we are making the room boring.
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Three to seven
The same, plus fluoride varnish if they will let us — a quick paint-on that sets in seconds and tastes of whatever flavour they pick. It roughly halves decay in baby teeth.
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Seven to twelve
Adult back teeth arrive with deep grooves that trap food. Sealants go over them: no drill, no injection, about ninety seconds a tooth, and they prevent most of the fillings a teenager would otherwise need.
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Teenagers
Booked in their own name and spoken to directly rather than through you. If they want to come in on their own, they can, and what they tell us stays with us.
How we work with children
Four rules, and we do not break them
We do not use the word “hurt”
Not even in a sentence like “this will not hurt” — a child hears the word, not the sentence. We say “squeeze”, “wobbly”, “tickle” and “count”.
Nobody is held down
Ever, for any reason. If a child says no, the appointment is over and we try again another day. Forcing one appointment costs you the next thirty years.
You do not have to be brave in front of them
If you are terrified yourself, tell us at the desk and we will not ask you to sit in the room. Fear is learned mostly by watching a parent, and stepping out is the single most useful thing an anxious parent can do.
No rewards for treatment
A sticker for turning up, not for being brave through something unpleasant. The second one teaches them it was unpleasant.
The awkward one
If you are the frightened one
Dental fear runs in families, and it is passed on almost entirely by watching. A parent who tenses in the waiting room teaches more in ten minutes than we can undo in three appointments.
So: tell us. You can stay in the waiting room, or outside altogether, and a nurse will sit with your child. Nobody will think you are a bad parent — we think you have spotted something most people never do.
Read the page for nervous adults
Free for under-16s
Check-ups, fluoride varnish and sealants are free for under-16s when a parent is a patient here. Not a promotion — it is cheaper for everyone than treating the fillings those appointments prevent. Fillings and extractions for children are charged at the rates on the fees page, and you will be told the figure before anything is booked.