Dentist visit visual schedule: free printable

Who it’s for

Children going for a dental checkup or a cleaning, especially children who find new places, bright lights, noise or hands near their face hard, and children who don’t speak or don’t speak much. With a mouth wide open, even a child who talks can’t say much, so page 2 helps at any dental visit.

How to use it

1. Look at it together a few days before. Go through the steps calmly. Practice open wide and counting teeth in the mirror at home.
2. Agree on a stop signal. Raising a hand works well, because it’s easy to do lying back. Practice it at home: hand up, and everything stops.
3. Bring the schedule. Point to each step as it happens, and to the next one before it starts: “Next, the big light.”
4. Show the dentist the stop signal card before the checkup starts, and ask them to keep the deal. A stop that is kept makes the next visit easier.
5. Hold the board where the child can see it while lying back, so pointing still works.

Light, sound and taste

A dental visit is a lot for the senses: a bright light right above, the buzz of the cleaning tools, a new taste, and hands close to the face. The board gives words for that: too bright, too loud, sunglasses and headphones. Ask the office before the visit whether your child can wear their own sunglasses and headphones, and whether the visit can be at a quiet time of day.

Change the steps to match your visit

Every dental office does things a little differently, and a schedule that turns out wrong stops being trusted. Cross out a step that won’t happen, and draw one that will, like an x-ray, on a sticky note. If you don’t know what will happen, ask the office before the visit. Afterwards, go through the steps again and tick what was done.

What’s on the PDF

Checkup steps

• wait
• sit in the chair
• the big light
• open wide
• the dentist looks
• clean my teeth
• rinse
• sticker

Tell the dentist

• yes
• no
• stop
• wait
• a break
• it hurts
• too bright
• too loud
• sunglasses
• headphones
• scared
• all done

Page 2 also has the two signal cards, Stop, please and I’m okay, and a row of things at the dentist: dentist, mask, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss and tooth.

Printing tips

• Laminate both pages, or slide them into sheet protectors.
• If the office has photos of its rooms or its staff, glue them over the first steps.
• This board helps a child take part in a visit. It isn’t medical or dental advice.
• For brushing at home, use the tooth brushing visual schedule. For a doctor’s checkup, there’s a doctor visit visual schedule.