Call Us: (808) 486-8881
Your Visit
A Children's Dentist ThatCommunicates With You
New Patient Forms
At Dentistry For Kids, we feel communication is an essential part of our practice. All team members are knowledgeable and will be happy to answer your questions or to assist you in any way they can. And you will have an opportunity at every visit to speak directly to your child's dentist. Give us a call if you have any questions or to schedule an appointment today!
Your Visit
Establishing A Dental Home
Our office proudly serves all of island of O'ahu, from Hawaii Kai to Waianae to Haleiwa to Kaneohe. We are located near major neighborhoods including: Pearl City, Aiea, Waipahu, Pearl Harbor, and Hickham. We maintain an excellent local reputation among the communities we serve. For Hawaii's best in dental care for the entire family, choose us today!
Why A Pediatric Dentist
Pediatric dentists like Dr. Paul K. Seo are dentists who have received at least two additional years of education in specifically treating children. They are sometimes described as “the big authority on little teeth”. More importantly, at Dentistry For Kids, we enjoy working with kids. We strive to connect with every child and their family to make them feel comfortable in our office. We treat patients like our family!
First Visit Appointment
On your first visit to Dentistry For Kids, we will reserve sufficient time to review your child’s health history and perform a comprehensive evaluation with the necessary radiographs (if necessary), review oral hygiene care, and perform a cleaning and fluoride treatment for your child. All examinations and treatments are provided by the same dentist to allow your child to become familiar and comfortable with their dental home. Any treatments, if necessary, are scheduled in a timely fashion so that your child’s oral health is restored as quickly as possible.
If your first visit is for an emergency, an effort will be made to provide your child palliative treatment to provide temporary relief for the problem. Then, you will need to schedule for a regular first visit appointment so that we can provide you with a comprehensive treatment plan for all necessary work. This is important as new patients with an emergency may have additional areas of concern that could be a health concern. We prefer to restore your child’s mouth to a healthy condition rather than to just treat problems as they arise.
Building Trusting Relationships
We have heard that at some practices, parents could accompany their child in for the initial appointment but they may have found a different policy for future and/or treatment visits. At Dentistry For Kids, we want you to know our policy up front. Essentially, our offer for an optional introductory tour is similar to being allowed in for the first visit. The difference is that we feel that successfully building trusting relationships, especially for potentially apprehensive children, is best achieved from the first time any procedure is performed. It is best to start this on the first appointment when procedures are non-invasive dental exams, xrays, cleanings, fluoride treatments. We rather not surprise parents or children in future visits, especially for potentially apprehensive parents and/or patients whom may expect consistent policies. We see the disadvantage of inconsistencies in patients whom have decided to come to our office when others were unable to help their children when it came time to have cavities fixed. We find it best when children understand that we are there to help them through their dental appointments and that their parents are the very best to comfort and/or praise them after their visit.
Office Tour Option
You can schedule a tour of our office if you are interested in our facilities or would like to introduce your child to their dental home. While many parents are comfortable skipping this step, some feel this is similar to how they would meet and introduce their children to their baby sitter or to a new school. So we will be happy to accommodate this introduction request as parents are requested to remain in reception areas during dental visits.
Behavioral Expectations
Of course, we hope that every child will have a positive visit. Many do as we strive to use our best training to accomplish this. However, each child is different and it is difficult to judge how they will react on any given day. They could have an apprehensive first visit due to the new experience but then may have many great future visits. Or they could have multiple great visits and then have a meltdown day. We’ve all experienced this with children and understand their nature. However, we want you to know, we will always do our best no matter how a child reacts. And we hope parents always instill praise upon their children after appointments. Even if they were apprehensive, I’m sure one should be able to find something positive to focus on.
Request Of Parents
Dentistry For Kids team members want to develop and nurture a relationship with each child in the hopes of building trust and allaying fears and anxiety. Parents can exert a significant influence on their child’s behavior, especially if they are apprehensive themselves. It is difficult to judge when, if, or what procedure may make a child or parent become anxious. But we know successful behavior guidance is essential to perform quality treatments safely and efficiently, and to nurture a positive dental attitude in a child. With the absence of parents during the visit, the dental team will have the best chance to establish the necessary communication. This is important since we choose not to sedate our patients for dental treatment. Thus, we do request that parents remain in the waiting room during treatments and hope parents agree this is the best way to help guide their child to be self-reliant at their dental home. Of course, there are times that we feel a parent's presence with their child during treatment may be beneficial. In these cases, we would welcome the help and will review some guidelines to help everyone work together as a team.
Office Information And Forms
For your initial visit, you will be filling out a patient information, health history, and dental history form. You will have an opportunity to review our behavior management manual, have an opportunity to speak directly with Dr. Paul K. Seo about the appointment or any concerns, and sign consent forms. If you were referred to us by another professional or are changing from a previous dentist and have any referral forms, radiographs, or records available please bring them for our review. If you believe you have any insurance, please bring the proof of insurance card. We also highly recommend you call your dental insurance company to verify current status as coverage can change at any time. Information and forms will need to be updated at regular intervals or sooner if anything has changed.
Financial Responsibility
Patients are ultimately responsible for payments. We will be happy to file dental claims on your behalf with any insurance company you may have and will await payment information from them before final billing to you. Please note that any contract for coverage is between you or your employer and the insurance company. We do not approve or deny coverage or benefits so any denial of claims will result in direct billing of all non covered services to you. You will need to speak to the insurance company directly or through your employer in these cases. However, we will be happy to refund your monies should the insurance company reverse their initial denials. At this time we are accepting only checks or cash payments.