Start at one
The Canadian Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry both recommend a first visit by the first birthday. It is short, gentle, and mostly for the parents. Everything after it gets easier.
Pediatric dentistry
One dental home, from the first tooth to the last teenage visit
A dental home is one practice that knows your child from age one to eighteen. It sounds simple. It changes almost everything about how their care goes.
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5 specialistsAll pediatric-trained, all at both clinics
Ages 1 to 18One practice for the whole of childhood
Open SaturdaysSix days a week, both clinics
The short answer
Your child’s teeth have a story. Somebody should be following it.
A dental home is the term pediatric dental associations use for one practice that looks after a child continuously: same team, same records, one plan from the first tooth to adulthood. At Children’s Dental Health Centre that means five pediatric specialists, two Calgary clinics and our own day surgery centre, so the whole of childhood dentistry happens in one place.
Teeth are not eighteen separate problems. The cavity at six often started with the bottle at two. The crowded bite at eleven was visible at seven. A practice that sees your child twice a year, every year, catches the version of the problem that is still small.
It works the other way too. A child who grows up coming here is not walking into a strange room when something does need fixing. The building is familiar, the faces are familiar, and the dentist already knows how yesterday went.
4.8 stars
1,500+ reviews
1,500+ reviews
What the model commits us to
What a pediatric dental home looks like in practice
Not a slogan on the wall. These are the working parts.
Watched over years
We know what your child’s mouth looked like last visit and the visit before that. Change over time is what tells us something needs attention, and you only get that picture in one place.
Prevention first
Most childhood tooth decay is preventable. The schedule, the fluoride, the sealants and the honest conversations about snacks all exist so that treatment stays rare.
Growth tracked, not guessed
How the teeth arrive, how the jaws grow, how the bite and airway are developing. Watched at every visit from the early years, while guiding growth is still simple.
Treatment stays in-house
If something does need fixing, it happens here: fillings, crowns, nitrous, sedation, and day surgery at our own surgical centre. No new building, no new faces.
Paced to the child
Behaviour guidance is a trained skill and a large part of the specialty. The visit moves at your child’s pace, and a hard day does not become a reason to avoid the next one.
Over the years
What seventeen years in one practice adds up to
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The first visit, by age one
Twenty minutes, mostly spent talking to you. Your child stays on your lap, we look, we clean if needed, and you leave knowing what the next few years of teeth will bring.
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Six-month check-ups
Examinations, cleanings and fluoride on a rhythm your child grows up with. Higher-risk children are seen every three months, and we will tell you plainly which group yours is in.
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The growing years
Losing teeth, six-year molars, sealants, sport guards, and a quiet watch on how the bite and jaw are developing. Most of what parents worry about at this stage turns out to be normal, and we say so when it is.
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Treatment, when it is needed
A filling, a crown, or a single visit under general anesthesia at our own day surgery centre. Whatever it is, it is planned by the team your child already knows, in a building they have been to before.
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The handover
Pediatric care runs to eighteen. When it is time for an adult practice, your child leaves with their records, their history, and a proper introduction, not a goodbye at the door.
Stage by stage
Wherever your child is right now
Children are the only patients we see
Five specialist pediatric dentists, two Calgary clinics, and a team that does this all day every day.
Questions
What parents ask about the dental-home idea
What is a dental home?
It is the term the Canadian and American pediatric dental associations use for an ongoing relationship between a child and one dental practice. The idea is that care is continuous and coordinated: the same records, the same team, and a plan that runs from the first tooth to adulthood, instead of a series of disconnected visits wherever happens to be convenient that year.
Is a dental home a program we have to sign up for?
No. It is a model of care, not a membership, and there is nothing to join and nothing to buy. Becoming a patient here means booking a first appointment. Everything the term describes follows from that on its own.
What ages do you see?
From the first tooth, or the first birthday at the latest, through to age eighteen. Babies, toddlers, school-age children and teenagers all have their own pace and their own set of likely problems, and the practice is set up for each of them.
Can my child join partway through childhood?
Yes, and many do. We will ask for any records from your previous dentist so we are not starting blind, and the first appointment includes a full examination so we know exactly where things stand. There is no awkwardness about arriving at seven, or twelve, or sixteen.
Do you work with our family doctor or pediatrician?
Yes. For medically complex children that coordination is routine: we speak with physicians and specialists before treatment, and if your child ever needs care we cannot provide, including at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, we make that connection ourselves rather than handing you a phone number.
What are you watching for as my child grows?
Far more than cavities. How the adult teeth are positioned before they arrive, whether the jaws are growing in balance, how the bite is coming together, early signs of airway issues, and whether habits like thumb sucking are starting to change anything. Most of it turns out to be normal, and when it is, you will hear exactly that.
Why does staying in one practice from one to eighteen matter?
Because the record is the diagnosis. A dentist meeting your child for the first time sees a snapshot. We see the trend: enamel that formed differently, a bite that is drifting, decay risk that runs in the family. Small changes are only visible against a history, and small changes are the cheap, easy ones to fix.