Back to School Dental Check-Ups in Edgware: Why Late August Is the Right Time

Every September, the same thing happens. The school term starts, the diary fills with clubs and homework and birthday parties, and the dental check-up that was going to happen “over the summer” quietly slides to October, then to half term, then to Christmas. Nobody plans it that way. It is just what busy family life does.

Which is why the last two weeks of August are quietly the best time all year to book one. Here is the case for booking one now, what actually happens at a child’s examination, and what it costs.

Three reasons the timing matters

1. A problem found now has a runway. If we spot early decay in late August, there is time to deal with it calmly before term starts, at a pace your child is comfortable with. The same problem found in October means juggling school hours, and a problem that waits until it hurts means a child distracted in class and a parent rearranging a workday at short notice. Most of what we find at children’s check-ups is small precisely because it was found early.

2. September is when the routine resets anyway. New term, new bedtimes, new packed lunches. Bolting a dental habit onto a routine that is being rebuilt is far easier than changing one mid-term. A check-up in late August means we can give you one or two specific things to fold into the new routine, and by half term they are just how mornings work.

3. Term-time appointments are more awkward than they used to be. Government attendance guidance asks families to arrange routine medical and dental appointments outside school hours wherever that is possible, and schools track attendance more closely now than they did a few years ago. A routine check-up is not the sort of thing anyone gets into trouble over, but it does mean a note to the office, a half-morning out of the timetable and a rushed handover in the car park. During term our after-school slots run until 5:30 pm and they go quickly, because every working parent in Edgware wants the same three appointments. In late August the diary is simply kinder, and your child arrives unhurried, which for younger and more nervous children makes a real difference to how the visit goes.

The appointment worth booking if your child has just started school

There is one piece of timing that is genuinely age-specific rather than seasonal, and it lands right around the start of primary school.

The first adult molars usually arrive at about age six, at the very back of the mouth, behind the baby teeth and often without any wobbling or fuss to announce them. Plenty of parents never notice they have come through. Those molars have deep grooves on their biting surface, they are the hardest teeth in the mouth for a small child to reach with a brush, and they are the teeth most likely to decay first.

They are also the easiest teeth in the mouth to protect. A fissure sealant is a thin tooth-coloured coating painted into those grooves so food and bacteria cannot settle in them. There is no drilling and no injection, it takes a few minutes per tooth, and it is £50 per tooth on our fee list, or £45 with the 10% plan discount if your child is a plan member. The whole story of what we do for children, from familiarisation visits through to orthodontic assessment, is on our children’s dentistry page.

If your child is going into Year 1 or Year 2, this is worth five minutes of our attention in August. It is the single most useful thing on this page.

The lunchbox audit

While you are here, ask us to look over the packed-lunch plan. The biggest danger to children’s teeth is not sugar itself but how often teeth are exposed to it, and lunchboxes are where frequency hides. Juice cartons, squash in the water bottle, dried fruit as the “healthy” snack, a biscuit for break and something sweet after lunch adds up to five or six acid hits per school day.

The fixes are cheap and undramatic: water or plain milk in the bottle, sweet things kept with meals rather than between them, and cheese or plain popcorn instead of raisins for snacks. We wrote up the full science of how everyday food and drink wears teeth away in our tooth erosion guide, and most of it applies double to children.

What we actually check at a child’s examination

A child’s check-up is short, gentle and deliberately unremarkable. We look at how the adult teeth are coming through and whether the bite is developing as it should, we check every surface for early decay, we look at gums and soft tissues, and we apply fluoride varnish where appropriate. As children get older we keep an eye on crowding and alignment, so if orthodontic treatment is ever worth considering, you hear about it early rather than as a surprise.

Just as important is what we do not do. We do not use words that frighten children; there is no “drill” and no “needle” in our vocabulary. First visits for little ones are mostly familiarisation: riding the chair, counting teeth, looking at the lights. If your child has never been before, our guide to the first dental visit walks through exactly how to prepare them, including what not to say in the car on the way.

Children who are seen routinely from an early age tend to need much less done, because whatever we find is still small when we find it. That is the whole aim: for your child to grow up regarding the dentist as a boring, slightly fun errand rather than a threat.

What it costs

A child examination is £25, whatever the age. If we recommend anything beyond the examination, you get an honest explanation and a written plan before we begin, always.

For most families, though, the better arithmetic is the children’s plan: £5 a month for ages 6 to 12, which comes to £60 a year and covers two examinations, fluoride varnish where appropriate, X-rays when clinically needed, orthodontic assessment as the adult teeth arrive, up to two emergency consultations a year and 10% off routine treatment. Two pay-as-you-go examinations alone would be £50, so the plan is ahead as soon as anything beyond the two check-ups is needed, which for most school-age children it is. Teenagers move to the teen plan at £10 a month, which adds a hygiene visit. Children under 6 simply pay as they go at the £25 examination rate.

The examination fee is on our fee guide and the plan prices are on the plan page, and they are the same numbers we quote on the phone.

Frequently asked

How often should a child see the dentist?

Every six months suits most children, and that is what the plan is built around. National guidance sets the recall interval for under-18s anywhere between three and twelve months, decided on the individual child rather than by rule: a child with a high decay risk, a new set of adult molars or a tricky brushing history gets seen more often, and a child with a spotless record can safely be stretched. We tell you which category your child is in and why, rather than defaulting everyone to six months.

What age should my child first see a dentist?

Any age you like. Many parents bring babies along to their own appointments so the place becomes familiar, and the first formal examination usually happens around age two or three. If that milestone has been and gone, do not worry, and do not let awkwardness delay it further. The best time is simply now.

Is the check-up free if we are on the children’s plan?

Not free, but there is nothing to pay on the day. The £5 a month covers two examinations a year, so when you come in for a routine check-up the appointment is already paid for and no card comes out at reception. The same goes for fluoride varnish and any X-rays we genuinely need. Anything beyond that, a filling or a sealant for example, is charged at our published fee with the 10% plan discount applied, and quoted to you in writing first.

My child had a bad experience elsewhere. Will this be different?

We take it slowly. A first appointment can be nothing more than a look around and a chat, with your child in control of the pace. We agree what will happen before anything happens, we explain everything in child-friendly terms, and we never push through tears. Building trust sometimes takes two or three short visits, and that investment pays back for a lifetime.

Do you see children during school hours only?

No. We are open Monday to Friday until 5:30 pm, so after-school appointments are possible throughout the term, and Saturday appointments can be arranged by request. That said, the whole point of this post is that a late-August visit avoids the term-time squeeze entirely.

Is fluoride varnish safe?

Yes. It is a routine, evidence-backed preventive measure recommended for children, applied in seconds with a small brush. It strengthens enamel exactly where it is needed and is one of the simplest reasons regularly-seen children get fewer cavities.

Can parents come in with the child?

Of course. Parents are welcome chairside, and for nervous children we would actively rather you were there. Some older children do better on their own, and we follow your lead on that.

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The last weeks of August have a way of disappearing, so if this post found you at the right moment, get in touch or call us on 020 3971 2000 and we will find a slot before the term takes over the diary.

— Dr Jacqueline Jacobs