Patient selection is crucial in providing quality care. It's important to choose cases you can finish with confidence. Treating kids can be compared to flying planes - before takeoff, you need to know you have enough fuel and clear weather to get to your destination safely. Similarly, before starting treatment, you should be confident the child can tolerate the treatment safely.

Managing patient’s hands is an essential part of safe treatment. A quick grab makes the difference between a successful prep and a cut lip or worse. So how do we mangage their hands? There is no perfect method and any child intending on disrupting treatment will be able to do so. That’s where case selection is important and we’ll talk about that next time. However, different management methods help you be better prepared.

For most patients, the handpiece (“drill”) is the most anxiety-provoking part of the dental visit. Hiding it is not going to work (unlike injection of local anesthesia) as the sound and sensation is unmistakable. For this reason, it is best to acknowledge and defuse it right away.